Through Time and Space
by lady-warrioress
Summary: Starscream's creator wants him back so he sends a bounty hunter to catch him. Starscream won't go down without a fight and the hunter gets more than he bargined for.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

Metallic boots clanked nosily on a metallic floor as a figure, looking very much like a small android in armor, walked down the hall of a large metal structure on a darkened planet. The clanking stopped for a moment as the figure paused to check its bearings. Was this the place? Or did it have to walk a little further? A map appeared in the figures vision and zeroed in on the right location. Ah! It still had to walk a few more feet.

The clanking began again as the figure closed the remaining distance and came toward a rather large, intimidating metal door. It stopped at the door and waited for it to open. The door slid open and the figure stepped into the room, also dark and intimidating, and stood before a much larger machine like figure sitting in a metal chair.

"I am here," the smaller figure said. looking up at the larger being. "and so are my services."

The giant mech, with a slightly humanoid body structure and sporting many scars from numerous battles leaned forward in it's chair, its hands grasping the arm rests with dark silver and rust colored fingers. the wings on its back, once a silver color and now tarnished and bent scraped the low ceiling as the figure leaned toward the speaker. Two red optics, dimmed slightly from age and disrepair, searched the shadows for a moment for the speaker. They finally came to rest on a small robotic figure in red and yellow colors. The larger figures dark metal face brightened slightly and the lip components turned up slightly in a smirk. "Ah, so you did received my message, bounty hunter," it said in a low grating voice.

The figure nodded. "What is it that you want?" it asked in a voice devoid of any gender. "I received your call for a bounty hunter's services. There is just one thing before I completely agree. I would like to know what or who you want me to deal with."

The larger figure didn't beat around the bush. It leaned closer to the smaller figure and spoke its specific need in slow clear tones. "I want you to find and retrieve my creation," it answered. "I will pay you half in advance."

The bounty hunter said nothing as he thought about the proposal. Half in advance. That sort of deal was never handed to him before. It was very tempting but... "What if I cannot bring him back to you?" the hunter asked. "What if he is able to get away?"

The mech did not like the question but answered politely, though there was impatients in his voice. "You can keep the money," he said. "But, from your reputation, it is unlikely that you won't succeed."

Yes, the hunter,s reputation said a lot of things. But such flattery never scoured any points with him. He lifted his head and met the taller mech's optics, blood red and showing a form of desperation. "I shall do the best I can," the hunter promised, it's left hand absently playing with the mechanics on its right.

The mech's optics filled with relief and it slowly pushed itself out of the chair and stepped down toward the smaller figure. The closer he got the smaller it looked but that didn't matter. The hunter's size was not an issue. It had tangled with many creatures more than ten times its size. It would be doing it again, though it did not know it at the time. "Thank you," the giant mech said, leaning down and bringing his face to the bounty hunters eye level. "You shall not regret this."

The bounty hunter had heard that line before but did not react to it. Instead it changed the subject to the matter of its visit. "Tell me about your creation," he said. "I need to know something about him so he'll be easier for me to find. What does he look like and where am I most likely going to find him?"

The mech rose to his full height once more and turned from the hunter, facing a large blank screen built into the left wall. He pressed the power button and a recording began to play. "This is my creation," the mech explained as another metallic figure appeared on the recording. This figure had a more graceful body structure than the old mech, less bulky in built. Sleek. Deadly. Its colors consisting of red, white, and blue. The only other colors on the figure was a dark gray head and a yellow area on its chest that looked like the cockpit of a military like jet. "His name is Starscream. He is the Air Commander for the Decepticon army and works for the Decepticon leader Megatron."

The bounty hunter didn't look at the mech as he explained further. "From the information I have been able to obtain, Starscream's last known location is on a planet inhabited by organic beings. The planet is called Earth."

"Earth," the hunter said thoughtfully, never tearing its gaze off the robot on the screen.

The mech noticed the strange tone in the hunter's voice and glanced down at him curiously. "Have you been there before?"

"Not in many years," the hunter replied. "But this gives me a good excuse to go back and see how things have changed since I was last there."

The recording ended there and the mech turned off the screen. He ejected a disc from the console and handed it to the hunter. "This will have everything you need on it," he told the hunter. "and will also enable you to communicate with me about your progress."

The hunter took the disk without a word. He looked up at the mech a moment then turned to go. "I shall contact you when I arrive," he said, starting out of the room.

"Wait!" the mech called after him.

The bounty hunter stopped and turned back to the giant mech. He looked up at its dark metal face. "Yes?"  
"If you have any trouble capturing him and have to resort to violence promise me one thing," the mech said, holding up its hand. "Don't damage him too much. I want him brought back alive."

The hunter smirked, though the mech could not see the expression. "I will bring him back alive," he assured his client. "and I promise not to damage him- much."

"See that you _don't_," the mech called after the hunter as the smaller figure stepped out of the room and retraced its steps back down the hall and into the docking bay where its ship waited.

_Don't worry, Silverblade, you shall have your creation. Together or in pieces._

_ A/N_

_I'll put up chapter one as soon as I can. Let me know what you think so far okay? Should I continue or not even bother?  
_


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 1

_**PLANET EARTH. DAY AND MONTH: MONDAY, OCTOBER 1ST. YEAR. 1989**_

The bounty hunter brought the starship out of warp drive and looked at the date on the computer screen. The date was satisfactory. He'd only left his client a day and a half ago. The ship's warp drive was always something the hunter took pride in and now with the new upgrades it had received from its client the drive's efficientsy level had gone up 800 percent. Yes, with this new upgrade the hunter would be back and paid in full before too long, provided his target was cooperative.

"Since when have they ever been?" the hunter asking himself, stretching and getting out of the pilots seat. The autopilot could drive it around for awhile.

The bounty hunter moved away from the controls and strolled to the back of its ship, putting his hands behind his back and stepping into the back area of the ship, past the small living space complete with a tiny bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom area, and into the cargo area. This part of the ship had also been expanded, thanks to the client. The giant mech named Silverblade had taken a brief look at the ship and insisted on expanding it, saying the bay was way too small.

The hunter had argued about that for a moment, demanding to know just how large this target was that the space needed to be expanded, but his client would not give specific details on the size. He'd simply had it expanded, much to the hunter's discontent and this was the result. A room big enough to hold a military issue F-15 Eagle and then some. The hunter vowed to have this expansion removed once he brought his client's creation back to him.

"I shall not allow my ship to be this big," he said out loud. "How does he expect me to even _land _without being seen with such a large cargo bay?"

He walked the expanse of the cargo area for a moment, stewing over that one little problem then shrugged. He'd cross that bridge when he came to it.

"And speaking of which." The siren was going off. He quickened his steps and ran back into the control room, sitting down in the pilot's seat and pressing some buttons. An image of the planet earth appeared on the screen and the targeting system zeroed in on a flashing black dot. This had to be it!

The hunter's mouth curled up into a smile under his battle helmet. _Yes, this is definately it!_

* * *

There have always been reasons behind ones actions, purposes behind everything said and done. It might begin because of jealously, it might begin from words spoken out loud. It might even begin by the actions of others. No matter how it begins, it always has a reasons. 

Starscream was a perfect example of this. Everything he said and did had a reason behind it. Everything he had ever done since joining the ranks of the Decepticons had a reason behind it. He had never been satisfied with his former duties. Yes, he was and still was a scientist of sorts and if he hadn't been he never would have become friends with Skyfire. Skyfire the best friend he ever had, Skyfire his half brother in a sense. Created by the same master but not the same spark.

Silverblade. The best known scientist on Cybertron, former best friend of the Decepticon and Cybertron guardian Shockwave. Creator of Starscream and responsible for dreaming up the design for the body of Skyfire but not the spark.

Silverblade was the reason for Starscream's current attitude. The Air Commander's creator had built Starscream with the intention of him being nothing more than an explorer like himself and a scientist. Though Starscream enjoyed those tasks he always felt he was destined for something greator. Something beyond mere research. Silverblade would always laugh it off and tell him he'd be nothing more than what he already was.

Eventually Starscream grew tired of this, especially after Skyfire disappeared after his final exploration mission and, having had enough, disowned his creator and left to join the ranks of the Decepticons, vowing to become the ruler of the Decepticons as well as Cybertron itself. Then return to his creator and throw his accomplishments in his face.

For now Starscream's goal was nothing more than a dream but he vowed that his time would come eventually... if only to prove to his creator that he was more than just a simple lab assistant... but then.. dreams weren't always meant to come true..

"Hello, any-bot home? Wakey. Wakey."

The sensation of someone tapping on his head woke Starscream from sleep mode. He'd been dreaming of Cybertron, of returning to his creator an proving him wrong for once. He'd been enjoying that dream and was not happy about being awakened so rudely. He turned his head to glare at the person who had interrupted him, to chew the said offender out and even give him a good old punch in the face if he had to, and got a finger jabbed into his left optic.

Surprised, the Air Commander shrieked and kicked the person away, putting his hand over his injured optic.

Skywarp, who had been the one poking the other Seeker, fell off the side of the recharge bed where he'd been sitting and hit the floor with a loud clang. "Hey!" he exclaimed, glaring at the Air Commander. "You didn't have to do_that_!"

"And _you _didn't have to wake me up the way you did, either," Starscream shot back, still holding his left optic. He sat up and glared at the black and purple Seeker on the floor. "and what are you doing in my room anyway?"

"Megatron ordered me to come get you," Skywarp replied, standing up and brushing himself off. "I was just doing what I was told."

"And of course you always follow orders," Starscream said sarcasticely as he stood.

"Hey it keeps me in one piece," Skywarp said. "You should try it sometime."

Starscream pushed past the black and purple seeker. _So much for that power nap. _After what had happened that afternoon, he'd been hoping to wake up in a good mood for once but Skywarp, like almost every day, managed to wake him in such a way that a smile was far from his lip components. Skywarp might have thought it was funny to wake a bot up like that but Starscream didn't. "And you could try to not be such an idiot," he snapped.

Skywarp was offended. "I'm _not_ an idiot," he protest.

But the Air Commander ignored him. There was no sense arguing with the least intelligent seeker in the base. "Megatron had better have a good reason for wanting me at this hour," he said under his breath. "I no sooner lay down to recharge and he wants me to do something else for him."

H wasn't going to ask Skywarp about it. The other Seeker wasn't always reliable with information. He'd find out soon enough anyway.

He found Megatron in the control room. The big gray robot had his back to him and was staring at the large computer screen, his arms folded close to his chest, as he watched a recording of that afternoon's defeat. He didn't even turn as Starscream came up behind him and grumbled. "What is it, Megatron?" _What is so important that you had to wake me up in the middle of recharging for? _

The Decepticon leader spoke without turning around, his red optics focused on Starscream's performance on the recording. "I've been noticing something in your behavior lately, Starscream," he said, still staring at the recording and getting more angry at what he was seeing. That reflected in his voice. "You only act that way when you're planning on trying to take over. I would like to know what you think you're doing."

"I haven't been up to anything," Starscream informed him, trying to keep his voice as even as possible so Megatron wouldn't think yell at him for being _rude. _"I have just been distracted lately."

Now Megatron did turn around. His expression told the Air Commander right away that he did not like that answer. "What could you _possibly_ be distracted with?" he demanded. He took an aggressive step toward the Seeker. "You had better not be building anymore armies behind my back."

"No, I'm not," Starscream said quickly, putting up his hands to ward off any form of abuse he might get. Megatron was in a bad mood and that meant his actions were unpredictable "I've been doing what I'm told to do. I haven't tired anythin-"

The rest of his sentence was cut off as Megatron moved, stepping forward and grabbing the jet around the neck. He pushed him back a few steps until he smacked into the wall. 'Then why are you being so incompetent?" he shouted, as the recoding played behind his back. "You're useless enough when you're at full capacity but this so called 'distraction" has made you about as useful as old broken down parts!" his face got dangerously close to the Air Commanders. "I'm warning you, you either get your act together or I just might replace you with someone who actually _does_ something!"

Starscream grabbed his superiors fingers and tried to pry them off his neck. "Please," he gasped. "I haven't done anything wrong." _You have no right to treat me this way!_

Megatron threw the Air Commander to the floor. The red, white, and blue Seeker looked up to see the gray Decepticon towering over him. "I have a good reason for this," he told the jet, pointing a dark finger at him. "Our last plan would have worked if you hadn't of gotten 'distracted'. You could have beaten that annoying Autobot plane but instead you let him run your nose into the ground then call for back up." he folded his arms, the angry expression never leaving his pale gray face. " Luckily Soundwave was able to scramble most of the message in time, otherwise we never would have gotten away with anything." he leaned over slightly and Starscream couldn't stop himself from flinching. "Next time you let such a thing happen I will personally rip out your vocabulator so I can't hear anymore of your whiny excuses!"

He aimed a kick at the jet and Starscream took it across the face. He cried out and fell backward, landing flat on his back. He put up an arm to protect himself against any further assaults but Megatron figured he'd had enough for now and turned away from him. "Get out of my sight," he ordered, pointing toward the entrance. "I don't want to see your miserable face until you're ready to get your act together!"

Starscream scrambled to his feet and got out of there.

Once he was in the hall and a safe distance from Megatron's wrath, he nearly ran into Thundercracker who, like always, got up earlier than anyone else and was going for a walk. The black and blue jet always seemed like a bit of a hermit sometimes, always going outside to sit and think. Starscream always thought Thundercracker thought too much.

"Watch where you're going," the blue seeker said, giving the Air Commander an annoyed look.

Starscream glared at the other seeker, his expression carefully hardened. Megatron's abuse had put him in an even worse mood and Thundercracker's ill timed appearance did not help. He started to say something but closed his mouth before any words escaped. He turned his attention away from the other seeker and pushed past him, stalking down the hall, his footsteps echoing in the quite of early morning hours.

He did not return to his room but instead changed direction and headed to the exit. He needed to get out for awhile, take to the air and just fly. Feel free for a while. Which was exactly what he did. He stepped out of the ship and, transforming into vehicle mode, took to the air, and let the sensation fill him with exillaraction.

Maybe it would make him feel a little better.

* * *

The bounty hunter's ship hovered in a place between the planet Earth and the moon orbiting it. For the moment the hunter kept it stationary in that position, as it contacted it's client once more. 

Silverblade would have been happier to hear from the hunter if he had captured Starscream this quickly. He wasn't too happy to be contacted for what he considered no reason at all. "Why are you bothering me if you haven't captured him yet?" he demanded, his tarnished silver face darkened slightly by an impatient scowl and image distortion. "I told you already, you'll get the second half of your pay after you bring him back."

"I don't want the second half right now," the hunter told him, folding his arms. "and that's not why I'm contacting you."

"Then why are you?"

"I got the feeling that there is something you're not telling me about him," the bounty hunter replied, folding his arms and leaning back in the pilot seat. "I don't think I should make an attempt until I know everything."

The tarnished silver mech paused, not really wanting to explain further. "It's only a few minor details," he informed the hunter, trying to wave the whole thing off. "They are not important."

"They _are_ if they explain why you had my cargo bay expanded to such a ridiculous size," the bounty hunter shot back. "It makes me wonder about the size of this creation of yours."

Silverblade faced the screen totally, a challenge in his dimmed optics. "Watch the disk again," he told the hunter. "Maybe his size will be clearer to you then." and the screen went blank.

The bounty hunter stared at the blank screen for a moment then ejected the disk from the reader. He'd already watched the recording over twenty five times since receiving it and nothing was any clearer to him than the first time. The hunter put the disc away, not wanting to watch it again. He pressed some buttons on the control pannel and brought the ship out of its stationary position. A few more swift key strokes fired up the engines and the hunter turned the ship toward the planet just below.

_I guess I'll find out all I need to know once to get there, _he thought as the ship began to penetrate the atmosphere.

_A/N_

_I hope this chapter wasn't a disappointment. I'm trying a slightly different writing style as well as digging into something some people might consider a sacred subject. It doesn't really matter as long as it makes sense. _


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER2

The flight was not making Starscream feel any better. If anything it was making him feel worse. Mostly because it gave him time to think, to mull the same problems over and over. It was not an enjoyable flight. But he kept on flying anyway. Being out in the open air was much better than being in the base with Megatron. Megatron could not blame Starscream for what had happened earlier that day. Even if the seeker had been up to one hundred percent battle capacity, the outcome wouldn't have changed. They would have still lost. _If I had been the leader we never would have lost. _He couldn't stop himself from thinking.

Starscream couldn't help being distracted, couldn't help that his thought processor was going to four different subjects at once. It had been that way ever since Megatron had punished him for making Bruticus. Starscream got the feeling the blows he received for doing such a thing had messed up his though processor in some way. He wasn't sure but he felt Megatron might have done this on purpose, with a little help from Soundwave most likely.

That's when the dreams had began. Oh they'd start out great, things would being going his way then... POW! Words would enter his dreams. Hard words, angry words. Words that went by so fast he could not understand them. But he knew. He knew! Those words were the reason why he even bothered. Bothered existing and living. He hated those words but was grateful for them. They just made him more determind to reach his goal.

_One of these days Megatron is going to regret ever treating me the way he does, _he vowed now as he flew toward the eastern horizon, the hours of night ebbing away._ One of these days I'll have his life in my hands and when that day comes I'll know exactly what to do._

And when that day came, the words would finally stop coming.

* * *

As the hunter's ship grew closer to the planet's surface the targeting system stared blaring as it pin pointed the location of his target. From the latitude and longitude numbers, the hunter concluded that the target was only a short distance away from the spot where he'd enter the atmosphere. Provided that it didn't move. 

_Now where's the fun in that? _he thought. _I've always enjoyed a good chase. Especially from targets I get paid half in advance for. _

He manipulated the controls, forcing them to pull in an image of his target. When the picture came in he was more than a little surprised at what he saw. His computer had picked up the image of a red, white, and blue colored F-15 Eagle.

_Now this is unexpected. _the hunter thought then, pressing more buttons, zeroed in on the jet. "Computer," he said. "pin point the target's energy signature. Bring me an image of the target only." _Maybe it's inside that thing. _

Another shock came when the very same image appeared on his screen once again. His eyes grew wide under the battle helmet and shouted. "I said only the target's energy signature, not his transport."

"**Targets energy signature matches that of his Transport**," the computer told him. "**Conclusion: The Transport is the Target**."

_What in the name of the Galactic Federation?! _the hunter thought. _How is that possible?_ He spit out another order to the computer. "Contact the client!"

"**Acknowledged**." the computer said and did so.

This time when Silverblade's image appeared on the screen, the hunter demanded, before he could even get a word out. "What in Hades do you think you're pulling here?"

Silverblade looked confused. "What do you mean?" he asked.

The hunter folded his arms, his angry features hidden under his battle helmet but his voice deep with anger. "Is this your idea of a_ joke_?" he demanded, then pressed a button on the control pannel and the image of the jet appeared on the screen, in view of both. "What kind of _idiot_do you think I am? I want you to explain this to me and I want you to do it now. Why is my target this_ jet_?"

"Because he can_ turn into _a jet," Silverblade told him, his face showing annoyance. He seemed to think that the hunter should have already known this. "He's a transformer."

_A__** transformer**__? Now you tell me! _"Like you?" the hunter asked.

"Just like me," Silverblade replied. "But smaller." he added quickly.

"Of course." _You'd better not be lying about that. _"Is there anything _else_ I need to know besides the fact that he can turn into a jet?"

"No," the tarnished silver mech said directly. "That's about it." he smirked. "Now that you've found him I think it's about time you earned that first half of your pay." and the screen went blank before the hunter could retort.

He sighed and turned his attention back to the computer image of the jet. _So this Starscream can turn into a jet, _he mused, watching the image. _Okay then. If he's going to fly then this should be easy. I'll just chase him around until I get a good, clean shot then send him down, _he smirked. _Simple. Pure and simple. Too simple. _His left hand played around with the mechanisms on his right again. _I've never had it simple. _

He turned back to the controls and locked onto his target. "Okay, Starscream, let's see what you're made of."

* * *

Starscream suddenly got the feeling that he was being followed. Turning sharply to change direction he caught a glimpse of his pursuer. From what he could make out in the pale light of pre-dawn it looked like some kind of air craft. Taking another sharp turn he got a better look. This time he found out his former guess had been somewhat wrong. It wasn't an air craft, not in the earthly sense. It looked more like a space craft. A space craft not built by anyone on the planet below, unless it was Japanese, which he highly doubted. 

This ship was a reddish and yellow color and shaped a little like some of the insects he'd seen on the planet called beetles. This ship could manuver just as well as he could, maybe a little bit better, and stayed about twenty five feet behind him not matter how hard he tried to shake it.

_What is this? _he thought. _Where did it come from and why is it following me? _

Another sharp turn, another look. For a moment he thought he saw an Autobot symbol on the ship but that guess quickly died when he took another turn. The symbol wasn't Autobot. it wasn't even Cybertronian. _What in Primus? _

And just as he tried to figure _that_out, the ship started firing.

* * *

In his ship the bounty hunter smirked as his target manuvered to avoid being hit by his blast. _So you're more agile than I thought. Good. I like a challange. _

Two more rockets were launched after the three colored jet. _Let's make this a little more interesting, shall we?_

* * *

Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and Spike Witwicky were lounging on the desert floor a short distance from the Autobot's base the _Ark_ and enjoying the early morning hours before the sun came out when Bumblebee noticed something in the sky. "What's that?" he asked, pointing toward the spot in the night sky where he'd seen the strange anomoly. 

His companions looked where he'd pointed. A patch of sky a little above the hoizon. Optimus, having very good eye sight as well as the ability to zoom in on far away objects cast a long look at the spot. The sky in that area lit up in bright shades of blue and red. A few seconds later he said. "It's Starscream."

"Starscream?" Bumblebee said, looking back at the sky. "What's he doing?"

Optimus kept on staring at the sky. "I think somebody's attacking him."

"Who?"

"I don't know," he replied, not taking his eyes off the sky. He zeroed in on the pursuer and got a good look at the strangely shaped craft. "It's not a Cybertronian ship. I've never seen it before."

* * *

Starscream didn't care _where_ the ship came from or who was flying it. The only thing he cared about was getting away from it. he tried to out fly it but the ship was either more agile than himself or it's pilot was a very good driver. Either way; he couldn't shake it, no matter how hard he tried. 

_That tail gator is asking for it, _he thought, getting tired of being chased and fired opon. It was time to fight back. He turned around once more and started firing at it. "You asked for it!" he shouted. "Let's see how you like_ this_!"

* * *

The hunter's ship was rocked by an explosion that nearly sent him flying out of the pilot's seat. He managed to stay inside and regain control of the vessel before it tumbled toward the planet. He hadn't been expecting his prey to shoot missles. He smirked. _So now you're ready to play by my rules. _

His hands flew over the control pannel._Let's see how much damage we can do._

He manuvered the ship around and got behind Starscream.

"What?" the jet said, taken surprise. "Where did-"

"Let's see you dodge this!" the hunter said firing upon the Decepticon Air Commander.

Two missles shot out of the ship and zeroed in on Starscream. Before he knew what was happening the missles hit his one wing and broke the end off. Then he was falling.

* * *

"Optimus, look!" Bumblebee exclaimed, pointing. "He's been hit!" 

Spike stared up at the sky. "He's coming this way!" he exclaimed.

Optimus looked back up at the sky. Sure enough Starscream was coming right at them and screaming his head off.

"Look out!" Bumblebee exclaimed, grabbing Spike up and diving out of the way with Optimus doing the exact same thing.

Seconds later Starscream passed over the spot, missing them all by inches and crashed into the ground twenty four yards away, spraying rocks are morter in all directions.

* * *

The bounty hunter hovered over the spot for a moment, taking in the crash site. He waited a moment but Starscream didn't seem to be moving or trying to get up. _Don't tell me he's dead, _the hunter thought. _No, not from that. From what I've seen on that disc it would take more than just a crash to kill him. _He began to lower the ship. _I think I'll land just to be sure. _His hand rested on the mechanisms on his right arm again. "I wouldn't mind a bit more of a challenge." 

_A/N_

_Sorry I took so long with this chapter. Things were going on and I keep getting myself distracted, plus I got the flu or something and I'm not feelign too well. _


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 3

When the dust cleared and Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and Spike recovered they turned toward the fallen Air Commander. He was still in jet mode, his wings smoking, the tips broken off, and half of his body under rubble. Then the rubble started to move as Starscream forced himself into robot mode and onto his knees. He slowly forced himself to sit up. He looked at the damage to his wing and even reached out a hand to touch it. "What?"

"Starscream!"

Hearing the voice of Optimus Prime made Starscream forget all about his damage. he froze then turned his body slightly and saw the Autobot leader along with the little yellow bug, Bumblebee standing behind him. Both had their guns aimed at him. He was instantly on his feet and aiming his right null gun at them. "I don't have time for you!" he shouted at them. "Just leave me alone, all right?"

"Ah no," Bumblebee said. "We're not letting you get away."

Starscream took a step back. He was in no condition to fight the Autobots especially Optimus Prime. Right now all he wanted to do was get out of there. "Just stay away from me!" he shouted. "I don't have time to deal with you right now!"

Bumblebee aimed his blaster at the Decepticon jet. "_Make_ time!"

"Look!" Spike exclaimed suddenly, pointing into the sky.

The Autobots and Starscream looked up and spotted the ship that had been chasing the Air Commander. It was slowly lowering itself down from the sky. The Autobots and their human companion moved out of the way so it wouldn't land on them. Starscream was far away enough already so he didn't need to move. He stared at the ship as it landed on the ground between him and the Autobots. He knew he should be using this chance to escape but for the moment he was too distracted to take advantage of it.

When the ship touched down the door opened a few seconds later and someone stepped out of the ship and onto the platform. Optimus saw that it was a much smaller figure that looked like some kind of mecha in red and yellow. It wasn't hard to figure out that the figure was a little taller than Spike and might not even be a mech, though it looked like one. It looked around, taking in its surroundings. For a moment its gaze fell on the Autobots leader and his two companions. It seemed to study the intently, but gave no reaction of the sight of them.

Starscream finally realized he could get away while the Autobots and the hunter were distracted and turned, running from the spot as fast as he could.

The figure must have heard his retreat because it suddenly took its gaze off Optimus Prime and started after the Decepticon.

When both were out of view Bumblebee looked up at Optimus and asked. "What was that all about? Who was that guy and why is he after Starscream?"

"I don't know," Optimus said thoughtfully. "I've never seen him before." he glanced over at the hunter's ship. "I've never seen a ship like this before either."

* * *

_So, Starscream isn't the only one here, that's one of them, _the hunter thought, chasing after the damaged jet. Starscream was so big that the hunter didn't have trouble keeping an eye on him, unless he tried to fly. _Then again he never was. I wonder if those other things I saw were friends of his? Silverblade did say there were Decepticons on this planet. He must have meant those other things. _the hunter fingered the mechanisms on his right arm again. _Well no matter what they are they had better stay out of my way. I don't need anything keeping me from capturing my target. Especially not more transformers. _

* * *

Starscream couldn't fly. When he'd tried he found out something in his flight mechanisms had been damaged. When he'd tried he landed flat on his face. The most he could do was jump and that wasn't going to get him anywhere. He had seen the hunter, had taken in the from in the red and yellow armor. For the brief moment where he couldn't move he realized that the hunter was much smaller than himself. Small enough that if he'd wanted to he could have stepped on it and that would have been the end of it.

But something kept him from doing anything. For some reason the sight of that hunter made him nervous, like it was more powerful than it looked. He couldn't shake the feeling and didn't really want to confront it, not now.

* * *

The hunter realized he wasn't closing the distance between him and Starscream, if anything he was losing it. The mech, being ten times the size of him, was covering much more distance and receding at an alarming rate. The only thing on the hunters side was time. Morning was arriving and the area was slowly filling with light from the sun. This would help him keep the air commander in view, for a little longer.

_Let's just hope that my prey doesn't take advantage of it as well... _

The communicator in his helmet began beeping. He ground his teeth in frustration. Just what he needed. His client to contact him when he was on the hunt. He knew he couldn't ignore his client and connected with him. Silverblade's image appeared in the top left hand corner of the hunter's helmet.

"Yes?" he said impatiently.

"Have you captured my creation yet?" the tarnished silver mech wanted to know.

"No, I haven't," the hunter replied, taking his eyes off his client and trying to keep his prey in view. "Right now I'm following him." and just then Starscream disappeared from view. "Blast!"

"What?"

"He got away from me!" the hunter snapped. _And it's all your fault! If I didn't have to talk to you I wouldn't have gotten distracted and slowed down. Doesn't he realize how hard it is for me to talk to him and run at the same time?! _

Silverblade wasn't happy with the answer he got. "He got _away _from you?!"

"I'm sorry to say but yes. For the moment," he was quick to add. "But I know what he looks like and I have a good idea at his size now so he won't be too hard to find." then he added as a side note. "Thanks for telling me he was thirty feet tall by the way."

Silverblade didn't apologize. He ignored the hunter's last comment all together. "Just keep on his trail. I'll be contacting you again."

"Next time let _me_ contact_you_," the hunter said before the connection was cut. He returned his attention to the task at hand. All he could see now was a vast expanse of desert as the sun rose over the horizon behind him and filled the desert with light. _Now where did he go? Is he hiding? _the hunter stopped and looked around the desert, taking in the cliffs and rock formations. _Where could something that big hide in a place like this? _he started walking again, heading toward a rock formation, the computer in his hemet pin pointing the air commander's energy signature. _He can't be far..._

* * *

"I don't get why we have to chase after them," Bumblebee said. "I mean shouldn't we just let this person take care of Strascream for us? It would be one less Decepticon to worry about."

Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, in vehicle mode, were following the hunter's trail through the desert. Spike was riding inside the Yellow Volkswagon and was just as confused as Bee was.

Ttrue as that might be, Bumblebee," Optimus told him. "Something doesn't feel right about this."

"What do you mean?" Spike wanted to know, staring at Prime's image in the smaller Autobot's built in computer screen.

"Why would some random person be after him?" Prime answered. "I've never seen a ship that looked anything like this person's before and I don't think Starscream could have or would have crossed this person in the past. It makes no sense that he's after him now after all this time."

Bumblebee had to agree. It did seem strange. "Maybe someone sent him here?" the smaller robot suggested. "Maybe Starscream crossed someone else and that person sent that guy here to take him out for him. You know a hired killer."

"You could be right," Optimus agreed. "But I want to be sure just in case he decides to come after us next."

"Why would he do that?"

"I don't know but I'd rather be safe than sorry."

* * *

Starscream leaned against the large rock formation he'd hidden behind and tried to contact the Decepticon base. Luckily his comlink hadn't been broken and Megatron's slightly raspy voice replied to his inquiry. "Where in the inferno are you?" he demanded.

Starsceram stared at Megatron's image on the tiny screen on his comlink. The Decepticon leader was frowning at him and looked more annoyed than angry. "In the desert near the Autobot base," the Air Commander replied.

"What? Autobot base?" Megatron asked, sounding surprised. "What are you doing_ there_?"

"Well..." Starscream looked around the formation, his optics picking up the figure of the hunter. It was getting closert to his hiding place but he couldn't move unless he wanted to be spotted sooner. He didn't want to tell Megatron what had happen but he couldn't stop himself from telling some of it. "I ran into some trouble and crashed here."

"What do you want _me_ to do about it?" Megatron demanded, impatiently.

"Wel I thought you might send someone to get me or-"

"Why would I do that?" the Decepticon leader snapped. "You're the one who left in a childish rage"

"But Megatron-" the jet tried to explain.

"I don't want to hear it!" the gray robot cut him off. "You should have thought about the consequences of your actions before you left."

"But Megatron, Megatron!" Starscream's voice was getting whiny and loud, the way it always got when he became upset. He tried to control it, because he didn't want the hunter to find him but it was impossible. "You can't just leave me here like this! You need me to-"

"Silence!"

Starscream clapped his mouth shut.

"First off; I don't _need you for anything_," Megatron informed him. "Second; I'll send somebody to get you but only if you stop that whining and never pull a stunt like this again."

Desperate Starscream was always willing to please. "Yes, yes, I promise!" he agreed, nodding his head up and down so fast the servos in his neck whined in protest.

"Fine. Then stay where you are. Skywarp and Thundercracker will come get you."

Starscream was relieved. "Thank you!" Hopefully the other two jets would get there before the hunter got to him.

That wasn't going to happen. When he turned to see if the Hunter had spotted him yet his optics filled with the image of a missile coming toward his face. He only got a chance to scream before the missile hit him in the face and exploded.

_A/N_

_I apologize for the lack of detail in this chapter and I hope it wasn't confusing. My next chapter will be more detailed I promise and I'll add a little more other things as well. I'll try to make them more in character too. G1 bots are hard to keep in character. Let me know what you think okay and if you think of anything helpful to help me improve it let me know in the niest way possible. _


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 4

When the Hunter saw the explosion, a feeling of satisfaction washed over him. When he'd aimed at the rock formation he wasn't sure he'd actually hit his target because the rocks were protecting it. As luck would have it, Starscream had poked his head out just as the missile hit the spot. He watched the missile exploded in his target's face and waited until it had fallen onto the ground before he headed over to it.

_The missile shouldn't have damaged him too much, _he thought, fiddling with his right arm again. _My client won't be too happy to have me bring him back a corpse. It's not like I __**meant **__to do that. if he had just stayed still. _The mechanisms on his arm started clicking and he moved his left hand away. _Let's just hope I'm not forced to shoot him again. _

He stepped carefully around the formation, the sun casting his shadow across the stone and sand, he stood to stare at the robot for a moment when he reached the other side. Starscream's fall had caused the geography of the area to change slightly when his body hit the ground, the sand and stones had spew upward and formed a crater around his body. The Hunter stood over the fallen Air Commander, his hands on his hips and his nerves on edge. His shadow darkened the large red, white, and silver body of the Decepticon. He got a good look at Starsceram's face. It was still smoking from the missile explosion but it didn't seem to be damaged too much.

His eyes carefully took in the entire structure of the Air Commander, looking for any signs of movement. So far Starscream's body was completely still, as if the missile had knocked him off line completely. His satisfaction slowly melted to disappointment. "You disappoint me, Starscream," the hunter said, looking at the Air Commander's darkened optics. "I was told that you are too hard to catch. I expected more from a so called Decepticon Commander." he slowly started down the slope, being careful to check for any kind of movement. "I was hoping for some kind of challenge, but I guess easy is sometimes for the best." he stopped and leaned against Starscream's leg. The cold metal was smooth against his armor. "How sad. Well I'd better let Silverblade know."

He contacted his client. "Silverblade, come in."

The tarnished silver mech's face appeared in the top left hand corner of the Hunter's helmet screen. "Have you found him yet?" he asked, his voice more impatient..

"I found him all right," the Hunter said, folding his arms and looking up toward Starscream's face. "One of my missile's got him in the face and knocked him out."

"What?!" Silverblade didn't seem too happy to hear that bit of information. "I hope you haven't killed him!"

"Oh, he's still alive," the hunter said reassuringly. "I doubt one of my missiles could kill him_ that _easily." he sighed. "But I'm slightly disappointed with this whole thing."

"What do you mean?"

"I was hoping for some kind of challenge with this guy," the Hunter replied. "So far he's been too easy to beat. Either you created the biggest weakling in history or he's messing with me."

Silverblade frowned. "When I created Starscream I had no intention of making him a military type robot," he told the Hunter as if he was confessing some kind of sin. "I purposely built him with the fear of extended conflict of any kind."

The hunter smirked. "So you made him a coward."

"Yes, if you want to put it that way," his client replied. "I believe he's not giving you a challenge because of this but..."

"But what?"

"I recently heard that he's steadily getting over this programing. He's forcing himself to become braver but, if the conflict is too great, he still flees."

The hunter wasn't sure how to react to this new information. "So you're telling me he's forcing himself to override his own programing?" he asked. _Now __**that**__ is interesting. _

"He's been doing that since he ran away from home," Silverblade told him. Sadness spread over his face. "I'm the one to blame for this. I should have never told him he would never become something."

"Are you telling me you want me to capture him for you so you can say you're _sorry_?" the Hunter demanded. _Of sure. Waste my time with something like that! I'm a bounty hunter not a counciler... I don't capture people so I can bring them back and listen to some heart to- er spark to spark conversations. I'm sorry! No I'm sorry!_

Silverblade's face hardened. "No," he told him angrily. "That is not why I want you to bring him back."

'Then why-" his question was cut off when he suddenly felt a movement on his back.

Silverblade noticed the Hunter get off balance as the image of him wavered. "What?" he asked."What is it?"

More movement behind the Hunter. He turned his head and looked up Starscream's big frame toward his head. He noticed the once black optics were slowly brightening. His answer came in a rather calm voice as he checked the mechanisms on his right arm. "I think," he began, and something in his arm went_click. _"That he is coming back online."

Silverblade wasn't ready for that kind of answer. "WHAT?!" he exclaimed.

The hunter's face twisted in a smirk. "I told you my missiles probably didn't kill him," he said, climbing on top of the Air Commander's chest compartment. "I knew he couldn't be taken down that easily." he started walking up the jet's big frame. "I'll take care of it."

"Don't you_ dare _kill him!" Silverblade screamed his voice rising in anger."I did not pay you to kill him!"

The Hunter, annoyed, met the tarnished silver mech's gaze. "Don't worry about it," he said then cut the connection before Silverblade started squawking.

He turned his attention toward the Air Comander's dark face. "Now," he said, his arm going _click, click. _"Let's deal with this." he continued his trek toward the face, being careful not to fall into one of the wheel compartments.

* * *

The missile's hitting Starscream's face had knocked the Air Commander out cold but didn't do much more damage than create a few scratches. At least his face felt intact though it also felt like Megatron had slammed his fist into it a hundred times. As his optics brightened and his ability to see came back he noticed something standing on his chest. With the sun in his face and his ability to see compromised for the moment he couldn't make out what it was though he did see that it was slowly coming toward his face. 

His optics flared to full brilliance and his vision quickly fixed itself. He saw the figure standing on him was a much smaller mech like thing in red and yellow. It stopped when it saw the lights on in his blood red optics and stared at him, or he thought it did, he couldn't see anything behind the green face visor. For a moment the two didn't move and just stared at each other.

Suddenly the figure lifted it's right arm and aimed it at the jet's face. Starscream stared down the barrel of a gun built into the right arm. The gun was flashing as it charge up a blast. The figure spoke, it's voice distorted under the helmet covering its head... or _was_ it its head? "I was paid to capture you," it said. "You would have made things easier if you had just stayed off line."

_Capture me? _Starscream stared at the figure in confusion. _Capture me? What?_

The gun on the hunter's right arm finished charging. "Say good night," the hunter said.

Starscream reacted before the hunter could fire. "No!" he screamed, his body shooting forward as he sat up. The figure lost its balance and fell of his chest compartment. The Hunter reached out to grab onto something but his hand never got a good hold. He fell to the ground and landed on his feet in a space between Starscream's legs. He felt the Air Commander moving behind him and looked up. Starscream glared down at him, his optics full of fear, anger, and desperation. The hunter moved away from him, getting some distance so he could aim.

Starscream watched the figure scurry away and lifted his arm. "I won't be captured that easily!" he shouted after him, aiming the null gun on his arm at the hunter.

The hunter turned and saw the gun aimed at him. He jumped out of the way as Starscream fired at him. The blast missed but sent stones and dirt flying when it impacted the ground. The hunter put up his arms to protect his head as stone and dirt rained down around him. He heard the mech moving behind him and turned around. Starscream was slowly getting to his feet, still aiming his gun at the smaller figure.

"Let's see you defeat me when I'm ready!" he screeched.

The hunter jumped out of the way as Starscream fired upon him again.

The ground behind him exploded and blew more stones and dirt into the air. The hunter jumped into the air again, twisted his body around, faced Starscream, and let loose the shot he'd been charging up.

An explosion rocked the entire area.

* * *

Optimus heard as well as saw the explosion, a giant mushroom cloud of fire, smoke, dirt, and rocks, and put on the brakes. He took it in for a moment then said. "That's it," and started for it with Bumblebee following close behind.

* * *

Starscream dug himself free of the dirt that had rained down on him when the Hunter's charge had exploded. He'd managed to avoid being hit by the charge but he couldn't avoid the destruction of the area when it impacted with the rock formations. When he could see the sun again he tried to get up but his legs were pinned under a large pile of stones. He looked at his legs, noticing sparks flying from them, and cursed his rotten luck. He didn't know the Hunter could do that. _What kind of ammunition does that guy use?! _he thought, trying to force himself free. _And where in Primus did he get it?!_

Then he noticed the shadow cast over him and stopped moving. He turned his head and stared at the figure. It was aiming that gun at him again. He also noticed it was panting but not too much. "Wanna try that again?" he asked, putting his other hand on his hip. "I have plenty of amo. We could keep it up for another four hours or you could give up and come with me quietly."

Starsceram stared at the Hunter for a moment then smirked. "You want my answer?" he asked. The Hunter looked slightly taken aback by Starscream's smug smile._What's he smiling like that for? What does he think he can do? Does he think he has some kind of advantage? _

Before the Hunter could voice these questions Starsceram raised his right arm and aimed his null gun right in the Hunter's face. "I'll see you in the inferno!" he shouted before firing.

The Hunter took the blast point blank in the face and the green shield/visor covering his face exploded in a shower of glass. The force of blow knocked the Hunter off his feet. He hit the sand and rocks hard and then stayed there on the ground, not moving. Starscream froze, staring at the Hunter. He could see a face through the broken glass of the visor. The face was covered in a red substance. He waited a moment, making the sure hunter wouldn't get up. When it didn't he turned from it and aimed his arm at the rocks pinning his legs to the ground. He twisted slightly to get a better view of the rocks then blasted them off his legs. Once he was free he stood up, taking stock of the damaged to his legs. Some of the wires in his knee joints had broken open and were sparking but nothing else seemed to be wrong and he could still stand. He looked into the sky for the other two Seekers Megatron said he'd send to get him but saw none.

_Where are they?_

Suddenly he heard another noise. He turned his head, half expecting to see the Hunter getting back up. His optics centered on the smaller figure but it didn't seem to be moving. He wondered if it would ever get up and if it didn't, so much the better for him. He looked around and noticed a truck coming toward him in the distance. He recognized it right away. Optimus Prime.

_I don't have time to deal with him,_he thought. _Even if I did, with the condition I'm in now, I wouldn't be able to last ten minutes. _He stared walking-limping- away. _I have to get out of here. _

* * *

Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and Spike came upon the aftermath of the explosion from the Hunter's charge cannon shortly after Starscream limped off. Spike climbed out of Bumblebee then the two Autobots went into standard mode. They slowly made their way to the spot, not sure what they were going to see but expecting something horrible, like Starscream's parts strewn all over the place. What they came upon wasn't exactly what they expected. The landscape that stretched out about a hundred feet had been totally changed as flat desert had suddenly sprouted rock formations and sand piles. 

Bumblebee looked around himself, taking in the change in geography. "Looks like Starscream and that other guy had a two person war," he commented.

Optimus nodded in agreement. The are_did_ look like somebody had battled there quite recently. From the new rock formations and sand piles it seemed the two had used more than blasters. He scanned the area again, trying to pick up any signs of life. It looked like Starscream and the smaller mech had moved on, because he spotted nothing of either person. "But where did they-"

"Hey!" Spike's voice interrupted him. The human had walked ahead, poking around in areas the two robots were too big to get into. "I found something over here!"

The two robots ran toward their human friend. Seconds later they came upon the youth. He was knealing beside something on the ground. "What is it?" Bumblebee asked, leaning over.

Spike looked up and stepped away so the robots could see what they found. Optimus leaned over and saw a figure in red and yellow armor. He noticed its head seemed to have exploded. "It looks like Starscream got the best of him after all," Optimus said softly.

Bumblebee leaned closer, his blue optics full of curiosity. "Is he dead?" he asked.

Spike knelt down beside the Hunter's body again. He looked at the seemingly blasted off head and spotted a face in the shattered visor. It was covered in a dark red substance. He leaned closer and thought he heard breathing coming from deep inside the helmet. It sounded labored. "I think he's still alive," he said, looking up at the Autobots. "But it looks like Starscream injured him pretty badly." he stood up. "I think he needs help."

"We'll take him back to the base," Optimus said, straightening. "Maybe Ratchet can help him."

The other two agreed. Optimus went into vehicle mode and Bumblebee and Spike placed the Hunter's body in his back trailer. Bumblebee went into vehicle mode and Spike climbed inside.  
"Autobots, roll out," Optimus said before he and the smaller Autobot stared their engines and returned to the road.

* * *

Silverblade tried to get back into contact with the Hunter but all he got was static. After the third try he angrily slammed his fist against the arm rest of his chair then stood up, something he rarely did. The joints in his legs squeaked loudly as he stood but he ignored it. "By the Pit," he growled. "This is taking too long. Why isn't he answering?!" he stomped down the hall of the building, ignoring all the dust and disrepair. "I can't believe this!" 

He caught his reflection in a piece of dirty glass. Tarnished silver face and tired red optics, dimmed with age, looked back at him. He glared at his face, hating how it looked. He vowed to do something about it but said he'd do it later. He'd_always_ do everything later. Later. Later. If he wasn't always saying he'd do it later Starscream probably never would have left. He'd promised to discuss this whole mess with Starscream later but never had. He couldn't blame his "son" for leaving.

But Starscream was still young. Ten million years might be considered old in other species standards but not to a Cybertronian. Starscream was young compared to someone like Alpha Trion or Silverblade himself. Young, inexperienced, temperamental, a spoiled brat! A rebellious spoiled brat that wanted to do everything without any walls confining him. No walls to keep him in line. No form of superiority to keep him under control. Once in awhile Silverblade would wonder how Megatron even got Starscream to do what he was told. Still... it was Silverblades' fault he'd left in the first place... it had to be.

He punched the wall in anger, growling in frustration, in denial. No, he _couldn't_ blame himself! It wasn't his fault that brat decided to leave like he had. "The least he could have done was not kill the rest of my children on the way out!" he shouted so angrily that building shook with the volume of his voice. "He was mad at _me_! He shouldn't have taken it out on them!" He glanced at the floor. Robot pieces littered the floor, the remnants of his other "children". The sight of the other robots filled him with gloom and his anger washed away like stains on metal. He put his hand over his face and sighed.

_He's not going to get away with it. I let him go without justice for long enough. _he glared at his reflection again, his dimmed optics lighting up with anger. "This time he won't be treated as a son!" he shouted, his voice once again shaking the entire building. "This time he'll be treated like anyone who dares to harm my children!" his fist smashed the window, glass shattering on impact and shards scattering around him. "No mercy!"

Without the glass he could see outside. The planet Cybertron loomed in the sky like a giant moon. His lab had been built one of Cybertron's moons. He'd wanted ti there so he'd have a good view of the planet. It used to be so beautiful. He turned from the sight. It gave him nothing but bad memories now. "Let's just hope that Hunter hasn't blown it," he muttered angrily, stomping back into his room and collapsing into the chair like a giant dead tree. "If he has I'll have to deal with this myself..."

_A/N_

_Now you know a little more of why he left. I liked writing this chapter. I had a lot of fun writing it. I hope they were in character pretty well. It's a little hard for me to keep them in character but I'll try my best. I hope my explanation for why Starscream was a coward was logical.  
_

_I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'll update soon. Please let me know what you think of it so far. It would be greatly appreciated._


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 5

Ratchet gave the small mechanoid body lying on his examining table a slow once over. Optimus, Bumblebee, and Spike had brought it in a short time ago and set it on the table, giving him their full confidence that he could repair it. He wasn't so sure. The face part looked like it had been blown off completely, if that even was the face. He couldn't be sure because of the red substance.

He gave it a gentle poke but the figure made no response. His only response had been a soft metallic clicking sound as the body moved limply with the slight force. For all he knew it could already be dead. The Autobot tried not to feel impatient. He'd been fixing Autobots all day and recently had to deal with the Lambo twins. Those two always had a way to tick him off, so he wasn't really in the mood to be fixing another. He shook his head, trying to push aside that encounter. Those two became more annoying every time. Especially Sunstreaker and his vanity. Dwelling on it wouldn't do him any good and this_ thing _needed him to be perfectly calm and patient. If it was still alive.

He glanced over at his tools. They were all transformers size. If this thing was the same size as him this would be easy but... he looked back at the figure. This thing was the size of a human, maybe a little taller than an average human but still human sized. Fixing it would require using much smaller tools. Tools he didn't have. _I'll have to speak with Sparkplug about it._he resolved.

But before he went out to speak with the human he gave the hunter's body another curious poke, thinking. _I wonder why something this small was chasing after Starscream anyway?_ When he did, the hunter's armor once again made that clicking sound and something else happened. As he stared at it the armor suddenly started moving, it began opening up and falling off piece by piece, the metal hitting the table. His blue optics brightened in shock and confusion as something under the armor became exposed. Another body, this one not so metallic... not metallic at all.

He stared open mouthed at the exposed body underneath for a moment then got moving. "I'd better tell Optimus," he said, already rushing out of the med bay.

* * *

Starscream tried to contact the _Nemesis_ again but discovered his comlink was offline. _Slag, it must have damaged when those rocks fell on me, _he thought, lowering his arm and leaning against a rock formation. He glanced down at his leg. The wires no longer threw off sparks but that didn't make him feel any better. It just made things worse because that told him that certain areas in his legs weren't working anymore and he'd discovered that first hand when he'd lost his balance and fell. Clenching his teeth together he slowly slid his back down the side of the formation until he was sitting. Glancing around to make sure he was alone, he took stock of the damage, holding his leg in his hands and bringing it up to his face for a closer look. It didn't look too bad, and he began to repair it the best he could without tools. 

As he worked he thought about the words the hunter had spoken to him, confusing but strangely chilling. _"I was paid to capture you..."_

_Paid to capture me? _He stopped for a moment to consider the words. _Capture me for what? By who? Who would want to do such a thing? Why would someone do such a thing?_he knew it wasn't Megatron. His superior officer didn't need to bother with capturing him for any reason. If the Commander an Chief had a problem with him well.. they lived in the same place and he could always beat him up like usual.

_So it's not him or any of the others, _Starscream chuckled at the thought. _It's definitely not an Autobot. _That was for sure. If Prime wanted him well... all _he_ needed to do was shoot him out of the sky and sit on him. _It could have been other Autobots. _He considered. There_ were _other Autobots back on Cybertron that would love to capture him and see him get his just deserts. The thought seemed logical but something told him that wasn't the case. There was something more to it than that.

_If not them then who...? _

Then the answer came, slowly, like the ebbing of the tide, but surely and he stopped what he was doing all together.

_No! It couldn't be! Not now! Not after so long! _He glanced up at the sky. _Or could it? _

Knowing brought him no comfort at all. The realization just made him feel even worse, even scared.

_No! By Primus, no!_

* * *

Ratchet found Optimus Prime in the control room consulting Teletran 1 about something. "Optimus," Rtachet said. 

The Autobot Commander turned his head and looked down at the slightly shorter Autobot. "What is it?" he asked. "Have you repaired the mech already?"

"Well," the medic said, gesturing with his finger. "Can I show you something first?"

Optimus sensed something was up and followed the medic back into the repair bay. "What is it?" he asked.

Ratchet pointed to the table. "Come take a look at this," he said.

Prime walked over to the table and took a good look at the hunter. What he saw startled him. What he saw told him that all his guesses about the hunter were wrong. He had assumed that the hunter was a small mechinoid creature built by whoever had sent it to earth to attack Starscream. (Prime assumed the only reason this person had come to earth was because he had been ordered to, there was no other logical explanation) He'd also assumed that it was male in gender.

As it turned out the Hunter was a human in a armored powersuit of such advanced technology that it was obvious it wasn't created on earth. The Hunter also happened to be a female human with long blond hair and wearing a white sleeveless bodysuit. The red substance Spike had seen turned out to be blood. It was dry now but had run down the left side of the hunter's face from a wound created by Starscream's nullgun laser a few inches above the eye. The woman was lucky to be alive from a direct hit like she'd take.

Optimus looked at Ratchet. "A human?" he said, not believing what he was seeing. "A female human?"

Ratchet nodded and looked down at the woman lying on the examining table. "Now what would a human, male or female, want with Starscream?"

Optimus had an idea but he didn't tell ratchet what it was. He might be wrong again anyway. He looked down at the human again, giving her a long hard look. "I don't like this," he said, poking the woman gently with metal blue finger. "We're missing something."

Ratchet looked at the woman as well. "If she wakes up maybe she can tell us what this is about," he suggested then turned away. "But I don't know when that will be. I'm not a human doctor. I can't help her."

Optimus didn't look up, he poked the woman again, thoughtfully this time. _What is this all about? _He looked up at Ratchet. "Scan her armor. Maybe we can find somethings out about her from it."

"What about the woman?"

"Have Sparkplug come in and look at her," he said. "Hopefully the wound Starscream inflicted on her won't be too serious."

Ratchet nodded.

Prime left, feeling more confused than he already had. Before he stepped into the hall he turned to Ratchet and said. "Run a scan on the hunter's armor. I think it would be a good idea for us to find out a little more about her, her armor, and where she came from." he glanced at the unconscious woman once more. "Somehow I doubt that her armor is anything close to Cybertronian and I'd really like to know what it's made of."

Ratchet nodded. "Will do."

* * *

Starscream was finished with his repairs. He slowly got to his feet and tried out his leg. Function had returned though it wasn't one hundred percent and he could walk on it though he had a slight limp. Now all he had to worry about was his left wing, which was missing half of it. He hoped he wouldn't have to worry about that for long if Thundercracker and Skywarp got their sorry tailpipes there and got him already. He couldn't repair his wing by himself anyway, he couldn't reach back that far. He shot a glance at the sky. So far nothing. 

_Slag, _he thought, turning his gaze from the cloudless blue sky and back onto the vast desert. "Where are those two slackers? They should have been here by now! Do they think I have all day?" he glanced up at the sky once more then looked back at the desert, giving it a cautious scan. Nothing. Nobody had come after him.

That could be either good news or bad. Good if that hunter was really dead and wouldn't be coming after him again. Bad if that Hunter was still alive and had gone back to its ship to recharge or whatever it did. For all he knew it was searching for him inside it's ship, a cloaking device hiding its presence from his scanners.

He forced himself not to think about it. It was unlikely that the Hunter was still after him, not after what he'd done to him. He'd practically blown the hunter's face off back there. The thing was probably dead which, to him, was a good thing.

He gazed at the sky again. Nothing.

* * *

The hunter woke to a throbbing pain in her head. Without opening her eyes she moaned softly and put her hand on her face. She felt blood and moved her hand hand away quickly. Opening her eyes she stared at her fingers as they came into focus. The blood stained her hand a crimson color. _What happened? _she wondered, then became aware of the hard surface under her. Turning her head her dark blue eyes took in what looked like a room made of metal. From her position it seemed she was lying on something above the floor. 

_Where am I? _she thought, confused.

Turning her head again her eyes centered on a white figure made of metal. It had its back to her and seemed to be working on something. _What? What is this?_

Suddenly the white figure turned slightly and she saw it's face. It was white as well except for two blue glass specks on its face that was most likely eyes and a red crown like head piece above those eyes. A _robot?_ she forced herself to sit up, squinting. _This one looks different from the ones I saw earlier. _

Suddenly the robot turned his head toward the table. He stopped and stared when he saw the woman, now concious and sitting up. She self consciously put her hand on her face, wondering why he was staring. _It must be the blood, _she thought but demanded. "What are you staring at?!"

"Nothing," the white robot replied, turning to her. She noticed the red cross symbols on his arms. She knew enough about earth culture to recognize the symbols as medical.

_So this robot is a medic, _she thought. She looked around herself again. "Where am I?"

"Well you're in the repair bay on the _Ark_," he replied.

She met his blue optics. "What is the _Ark_?" she wanted to know.

"Autobot headquarters," he told her.

_Autobot? What's an Autobot? Wait now I remember. Silverblade said Autobots were the other warring fraction on his planet. They are supposedly the good guys. _ "So how did I get here?" she questioned, once again turning her attention back to the room.

"Our leader Optimus Prime brought you here," the medic explained, walking over to the table. "He told me that you had had an encounter with Starscream and he damaged you."

"It wasn't just an encounter," she told him, resting her head on her hand. "It was intentional."

"Intentional.Why?"

She looked up at him. She wasn't sure what to tell him or what she could or should or wanted to tell him. Silverblade had told her to come to earth and get Starscream. Sure he'd mentioned the Autobots but he never said to avoid them or not to tell them anyway, besides not letting anyone know who had paid her to do the job. "I was hired to capture him," she replied.

His optics brightened with surprise. "Hired?"

She nodded.

"Why would somebody hire you to do such a thing?" he wanted to know, but before he could answer he added. "Hold it. Don't answer that yet. I'd better let Prime know you're awake. Don't say anything until he comes in. He'll need to hear this."

The woman fell silent as the giant white medic turned from her and activated a screen on the wall behind him. Another robot appeared on the screen. This one was red, white, and blue and had a silver face plate covering the mouth area. When he spoke his voice demanded immediate attention. "What is it?" he asked.

"Prime," the medic said, his full attention on the screen. "You told me to let you know if anything changes."

"Yes, has it?"

The medic nodded. "Yes, it has," he said. "She's conscious."

The mech on the screen's face might have been half hidden but the woman thought she detected a look of relief in his blue optics. "That's good to hear," he said.

"She's got something to tell you," the medic went on.

That got the other mech's attention. "I'll be right there," he said. "Optimus out."

The screen went blank and the medic turned back to her. "He'll be here in a few minutes," he said, leaning against the console.

The woman wasn't too happy. "Why did you tell him that?" she demanded. "_You're_ the one who wants him to hear what I say. I never said _I_ did."

He looked sheepish. "I didn't think you'd mind," he answered.

The expression on her face said otherwise. "I don't have time to be telling my life story to you all," she said, slowly pushing herself into a standing position. "I'm busy." she tried to walk. "I have a Decepticon to capture." She fell to her knees. _Darn! Just what I don't need!_

"It won't take long," he said, walking over to her to make sure she was all right. "Besides you can't go anywhere right now. You need to have your wound dressed and-"

She glared at him. "Don't even think about it," she snapped. "I can take care of it myself."

"-you don't have your suit," he finished.

That's when she realized it was missing. She quickly looked around the room, trying to catch a glimpse of it. It was gone. She glared at him again, more angry than before. "Where is it?" she demanded. "Where did you put it?"

He avoided her gaze. "Well..."

"I want it back!" she shouted, getting to her feet again. "You had no right to take it!"

He tried to explain "But I-"

"Enough!" another voice commanded.

The woman fell silent and looked in the direction the voice at come from. Standing in the doorway was the mech that she'd seen on the screen a few minutes before. He looked a lot more impressive in person.

"Prime," Ratchet began, trying to explain. "She's-"

"I heard her," Prime cut him off gently. He walked toward the table, his blue optics focused on the woman. "Your suit will be returned to you in due time," he told her. "But right now I think it would be best if your wounds were taken care of first."

She glared at him, not at all happy that he was not going to give her back her suit and that he was acting like he knew what was best for her. "I'm fine," she told him. "I've had wounds more serious than this one before."

"I believe that," Optimus said sincerely. "But I also know you humans are made of flesh and bone and not metal and take awhile to heal up when you're seriously injured."

She bit back a remark. He was right about that. She wanted to feel offended at him for saying such a thing but she couldn't. He was right and how he had worded it told her he wasn't trying to offend her. She growled, looking away from him and putting a hand over the wound again. This time when she removed it no blood came off on her fingers. She smiled at this then looked back at Optimus. _What you don't know is that I'm __**not**__ an ordinary human._

He continued. "Once you've had your wound treated then you can tell us what you were doing chasing after Starscream." he saw the look on her face and added. "But only if you want to."

"Well I _don't _want to," she told him, pushing herself into a standing position. "I don't have time." she looked at one robot then the other. "I need to capture that jet."

"Why?" Optimus asked. He really did want to know.

"Why?" she demanded.

"Why do you want to capture Starscream?" he asked her.

"Because I was paid to capture him," she replied.

"You were paid to capture him?"

"Yes," she replied. "I'm a bounty hunter. I make my living by being paid to capture people and bringing them to my clients. if I fail at capturing my prey I don't get paid."

Optimus looked at Ratchet who shook his head and shrugged. He looked back at the woman. "Who paid you to capture Starscream?" he wanted to know.

"I am not at liberty to give out that information," she told him directly.

That statement was a little unexpected. "Why?"

"Because I'm on a privacy contract with my client," she replied, folding her arms. "When I agreed to capture Starscream for my client I signed a contract that forbade me to tell anyone who it was who paid me to do the job. I've dealt with that kind of contract before and I don't ever break the rules. If my client doesn't want his identity known to anybody but the person I'm paid to capture I comply fully."

"So whoever wants Starscream captured doesn't want anybody to know who he is?" Optimus asked, looking thoughtful. "I wonder why."

"Because that's his right," she told him. She gave him a suspicious look. "and why do you want to know who it is so much anyway?"

_A/N_

_I feel I should end the chapter here. I hate it when I reach the middle parts of the story because I find them annoying because nothing really interesting happens. Hopefully my next chapter will be better. I promise to make it better! I hope this one didn't confuse you and I hope everyone is in character and I'm sorry if they aren't. I also hope that some of your questions were answered, mostly about my Hunter. Starscream figured out who it was but he's not exactly sure he's right yet so please don't ask. It's just a guess right now.  
_

_Please don't be mad at me for making the Hunter a human and a girl. I had that part planned when I began the story._

_Please leave a review. I love reviews. I'm obsessed with reviews bwahahahaa! just one review? Well thanks for at least reading the chapter.  
_


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm updating whether you people read or review it or not because I'm enjoying writing this fic and I've worked real hard on it so far. **

CHAPTER 6

Optimus didn't know how to answer her. He _did_ want to know who would send a bounty hunter, any bounty hunter, to earth to capture Starscream. It didn't make much sense. Sure Starscream was the Commander of the Decepticon Air Force but he was also a coward and one of the first to flee in battle. Optimus could admit that the jet had stood out a few times in battle and seemed to be a little braver than he used to be but... Maybe the client was the Autobot Council back on Cybertron and they thought questioning him would help them get the information they needed. Starscream was the perfect target for that. He might easily break under the pressure.

"Can you at least tell me if it was a Cybertronian?" he asked, hoping for at least a little bit of information to go on.

The woman smiled at him tolerantly. "I'm sorry," she said, wiping the dried blood off her face. "But I'm afraid I can't do even that."

Optimus was disappointed. "Oh," he said. "I understand." but he didn't. Not for real.

"I can't say I'm sorry, Prime," she told him, folding her legs under her. "Because I'm not." The woman moved her hand away from her head and saw blood on it. Her wound was bleeding again. She ground her teeth. _Darn!_

Ratchet saw it and handed the woman a piece of cloth to bandage it with. She took it, giving the medic a guarded but grateful look, and started wrapping it around her wound. She was having a hard time because of her hair. "Need help?" he asked.

She looked up at him. "Not from you," she told him. "Your hands are too big."

The medic lowered his hands and looked away from her. He stepped toward the entrance. "Then I'll just get somebody who can," he told her.

She noticed he sounded grumpy and she looked at Prime. "What's wrong with him?' she wanted to know.

"Nothing.," he told her. "He's just being himself."

"Oh..." she fell silent. For a moment neither said anything then she said. "Your medic told me you brought me here."

"That's true," he told her.

"But how?" she asked, putting her hand over the wound. "How did you find me? I was in the middle of the desert. There was nobody around but me and that jet. How did you even know where I was?"

Optimus admitted. "We followed you."

She stared at him. "What?"

"We were there when you attacked Starscream and caused him to crash," he told her. "We witnessed you land and chase after him." he put his hands on the table and knelt down to make eye contact. "We followed you from there."

She stared at him. _So it __**was**__him! _she thought, remembering the giant robot she'd seen the night before that hadn't been Starscream_. He was there the whole time. _"Why did you follow me?"

To Optimus she sounded angry. Like she didn't appreciate him following her. He said nothing. When he and Bumblebee had followed her he had done it because he wanted to find out who this person was and where it had come from. He'd also been worried. He'd gotten a bad feeling that the Hunter might run into trouble with the Air Commander. Starscream might be a coward but when backed into a corner he wasn't totally helpless. He was like an animal. It was best not to corner him, not if you were by yourself anyway and wanted to live. "I had a bad feeling," he told her, unable to come up with the right words to justify going after her.

The look she gave him told him she didn't believe that for an instant. Before she could tell him so Ratchet came back into the room followed by someone else. The Hunter looked stared at the human who looked like an older male in construction clothing, with brown hair and blue eyes. When he saw her staring he smiled at her and gave a little wave in greeting. She frowned. The man climbed onto the table and headed toward her. She knew right away that this was the guy Ratchet had gone to find to help her wrap her wound. She felt the urge to deny his help but decided against it. It couldn't hurt. It wasn't likely that this man would harm her and he seemed to know the robots pretty well so maybe this was a good thing and she should just let him do what he came to do.

"Hi," he said, standing beside her. "I'm Sparkplug Witwicky," he said.

She stared at him a moment then said in a flat voice. "Sam."

* * *

"Why does Starscream always have to do stuff like this?" Thundercracker whined to Skywarp as the two flew over the desert to Starscream's last known location. "He gets himself in a jam and Megatron sends us to get him out of it." he clenched his fists to his sides. "It happens all the time."

"Ah, don't let it get to you, TC," Skywarp said, smiling at his friend in a carefree way. "Maybe Screamer has a good excuse this time."  
"Yeah he got into trouble," Thundercracker retorted. "That's _always_ the excuse he uses. Can't he think of something more original?"

"If he did than he wouldn't be Starscream, now would he?" Skywarp told him, smirking. "Would you rather him be someone else?"

"Sometimes I wish he was..."

Skywarp made a face and looked toward the ground. His optics focused on the vast desert below, hoping to catch a glimpse of something red, white, and blue. "That will never happen," he told his friend.

"I know..."

"Hey!" Skywarp exclaimed suddenly, banking and straightening out.

Thundercracker, noticing he was flying by himself, stopped and looked back at the black and purple jet. "What?" he asked.

Skywarp hovering in one spot, scanning the area with his optics. "I thought I saw something."

The other seeker flew back to him and hovered beside him. "What is it?" he asked.

Skywarp's optics stopped on something on the ground. "I don't know," he said.

"Well is it Starscream?" Thundercracker asked. "Does it look like Starscream."

"No," Skywarp replied, shaking his head. He changed position and headed toward the ground and the spot where he'd seen the object. "It looked like a ship."

Thundercracker stayed where he was for a moment, staring after his friends shrinking form as he descended. _A ship? _"Wait for me!" he called, following his friend.

A few minutes later the two seekers landed beside a strange looking vessel. Thundercracker stared at the ship, not sure what to make of it. The ship had a strange bug like shape and was colored in multiple shades of red, green, and yellow. He had never seen anything like this before. It looked nothing like a Cybertronian ship.

"What this it?" he said out loud. "and where did it come from?"

"I don't know," Skywartp said, kneeling down to get a better look. "The design kind of reminds me of those little creatures the humans call insects." he looked at his friend, smiling slightly. "Maybe it's an Insecticon?"

"I don't think so," Thundercracker said, joining him. He ran a hand over the hull. "If it was it would have said something. I think it's just a ship."

"A strange ship," Skywarp commented, more to himself than to Thundercracker. "and definitely not from Cybertron."

"I'll agree with you on that," T.C said. "and it doesn't look like an earth vessel either."

"So if it's not from earth or Cybertron where is it from?"

"I don't know."

* * *

"So where are you from?" Optimus asked the woman who called herself "Sam" as Sparkplug Witwicky wrapped a bandage around her head wound.

She looked up at the Autobot leader. "Why do you want to know?" she asked, sounding suspicious.

"You are a human," he told her. "But you aren't from Earth. I didn't know humans existed anywhere but earth."

She looked annoyed. "Why should it matter where I came from?"

Optimus put up his hands. "It doesn't," he told her. "I was just wondering. You don't have to tell us."

"Good," she said. "Because it would be too hard to explain. Actually my home planet doesn't exist anymore."

"Really?" Optimus asked. "Why?"

"I had to blow it up," she replied.

Optimus and the others stared at her, startled at how calm she has said it. Ratchet asked. "You blew up your own planet?"

She looked over her shoulder and met his blue optics. "I had to," she told him, her voice holding a guarded tone. "It was necessary."

"I see..." he said, his voice trailing off.

By then Sparkplug was finished with her wound. She pushed him away and stood back up, walking to the edge of the table and looking up at Prime, with her hands on her hips. From this spot the Autobot Commander looked even bigger but she was used to large creatures towering over her and if didn't bother her. "No, you _don't_ see," she said. "You don't understand. Though you've been in a war all your life I doubt you've ever had to blow up a planet least of all your own." she shook her head. "But that's okay. It doesn't bother me."

She looked down at the floor, a pretty good distance away. Optimus put out his hand to offer to help her down but she ignored the large blue metal hand and jumped off the edge. She fell a pretty good distance but landed on her feet, her left hand also touching the floor. to help her keep her balance. She looked up at Prime and the others who looked startled at what she'd just done. She smiled at them. "I'm fine," she told him. "I've fallen from greater distances than this in my life. It's no big deal." she looked around herself. "Now if you don't mind, I would like my power suit and to be told how to get out of here. I have work to do."

Sparkplug looked at Optimus. "How did she do that?" he asked him.

Prime had no answer.

She put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot. "Wel?' she said.

"Well what?' he asked.

"Where is my suit?" she asked. "I want it back now."

"It was damaged," he told her. "It'll be awhile before we can repair it."

_Great! Just great! _

* * *

Thundercracker leaned toward the ship, his crimson optics studying the entire structure. _What a strange ship. It's non-Cybertronian yet it's way too advanced for an earthen vessel. I wonder where it came from and who was flying it? _He stood up, and looked around, hoping to spot the pilot. All he saw was desert. _All well, _he thought. He stared down at the ship thoughtfully. _Starscream was flying over the desert last night. I know this ship wasn't here the day before. It has landed recently. Maybe even last night. _Something else came to mind. _The same time as Starscream flew over the area? Could this ship or the pilot be responsible? _he looked around again. _Is that why the pilot is missing? Is he chasing after Starscream? But if so... why? _

Skywarp, who was watching his friend carefully, hoping he'd have a good answer, looked at him curiously. "What is it?" he asked.

"Nothing," Thundercracker told him, turning his attention back to the black and purple seeker. He turned around to face him, his back to the ship and away from the morning sunlight. "I'm not sure what this even means. It might be important but I was just thinking that maybe the pilot might have something to do with what happened to Starscream."

Skywarp stared at him. "Really?" he asked. When his friend nodded and asked. "But why?"

"I don't know," Thundercracker said, glancing back at the ship. "But it can't be a coincidence."

Skywarp folded his arms. "Should we tell Megatron?"

Thundercracker shook his head. "Not now," he said. "Not until we know for sure." The two jets walked away from the strange ship. "First let's find Starscream and see what he has to say."

Transforming into their vehicle modes, the two seekers took to the sky once more.

* * *

The Hunter stepped out of the medical bay, ignoring Optimus Prime's orders to come back. Why should he care if she walked around his base anyway? And she didn't work for him and wasn't a part of his crew. She was her own boss, unless somebody hired her, and didn't like taking orders anyway She wasn't going to hurt anything anyway. _If he's not going to give me back my suit I'll just take a look around until he does. _She walked down the hall, suddenly aware of loud music being blared from somewhere else in the building. Curious about the source, she headed toward it.

When she stepped into another room a few minutes later she caught sight of another robot, this one black and white, with a large blue 4 painted on his chest. He was sitting next to what looked like an over sized boom box and was bopping his head to the beat of the song that was playing. She stopped to stare, not sure what to make of the strange sight. _Robots enjoy music too? _she thought. _Now __**this**__ is interesting. _

"Will you two turn that down?" another voice demanded, startling her.

She turned her head and spotted another robot, this on a small red chubby looking mecha with horns on his head. He was standing a short distance away with his arms folded and a deep scowl on his face. It was clear he didn't like the music.

"Give it a chance, man," the black and white robot said. "You'll never know what ya like until you at least try it out."

"I did try it," the smaller mech shot back. "And I still don't like it."

"You're no fun."

The woman was startled even more by the black and white robot's voice. He sounded so different from the other robots who seemed to talk completely serious all the time. This one seemed to be more laid back and less stuffy. She looked back at him. His lazy posture should have given that away but something told her that his personality shouldn't be taken for ignorance. She got the feeling in battle he could be just as serious as the others, he just didn't choose to be that way all the time.

_I wonder if he was created that way or he learned to be that way over time, _she thought, watching him. _Like Starscream is forcing himself to be brave, though he was built to loath and avoid any kind of conflict. _Just thinking about the seeker reminded her of her mission and that she needed her powersuit. _Maybe one of them will know if it's repaired or not._She stepped forward, heading straight for the laid back mech by the boom box.

The black and white mech noticed her coming and turned his full attention on the female human. He smiled a disarming smile at her, his posture friendly. "Hey, girl," he said in greeting. "You must be that Hunter Prime and Bee brought in." he leaned down to get a better look at her, or to make better eyes contact, it didn't matter. "I thought for sure you'd be a dude. I'm kinda glad I was wrong."

The Hunter felt herself blushing at the veiled compliment. She folded her arms and met his gaze, his optics hidden by a blue eye visor. "I'm Sam," she said, not using her full name.

"The man's Jazz," the mech said, still smiling. He gestured a black hand to the boom box. "This is Blaster." he tapped the boom box and it stopped playing music. "Say hello to the lady, Blaster baby."

Suddenly the boom box began to move and transform before the hunter's eyes. Within seconds the boom box had turned into another robot. He smiled down at her, his expression also friendly. "It's a pleasure to meet you, baby." he said, holding out his hand to her.

She didn't even touch it. "Don't call me baby," she told him, annoying.

He moved his hand away, looking sheepish. "Sorry," he said. "I didn't mean anything by it."

Jazz looked at the hunter. "Don't let his lingo cramp your style, girl," he told her. "He wasn't hitting on ya."

"I am aware of that," she said flatly. She glanced over at the other robot who was giving her a suspicious look. "What's your problem?' she demanded of him. "Haven't you seen a woman before?"

"I don't trust you," he told her.

She stared at him. Now what would make him say a thing like that? "What?" she said.

Before the red mech could say anything Jazz cut in. "Just ignore Cliffjumper," he told her. "He's paranoid."

"I can see that," she said, not being rude. She ignored the mech Jazz had called Cliffjumper and looked back at Jazz. "Is my powersuit finished being repaired?" she asked, getting right to the point.

Jazz looked confused. "Your powersuit?" he asked, sounding like he had no idea what she was talking about.

"Yes, the thing I was wearing when I brought here," she said. "It's red and yellow with some green."

"Oh that," Jazz said, suddenly remembering. "Ratchet should have it. Prime wanted him to repair it."

"He doesn't have it."

"Wait, I think I know who does," Blaster said.

"Who?" the woman asked.

"Prime wanted Perceptor to look at it," he told her. "He might still have it."

"Where can I find this Perceptor?" she wanted to know.

Jazz pointed down the hall. "He should be in the lab," he told her. "He's there most of the time."

She thanked him and turned away. _So Prime lied to me, _she thought, feeling violated. _What he can't learn from me he think he'll learn from my powersuit. Well these Autobots aren't going to learn anything. I didn't come here to be studied. _She ground her teeth in anger. "How am I going to do my job if I keep running into complications? It's bad enough I made a rookie mistake and let my guard down but now these giant robots are poking their noses where they don't belong. Then there's Silverblade. How is he going to feel if I don't get in contact with him soon? He must think I'm ignoring him or that I couldn't do my job." she stopped. "I can't do my job without my suit. When I meet this Perceptor he'd better hand over my suit. I don't have time for this. The longer I wait the further he'll get before I catch up with him." Her fists shook as she grew even more angry. _This just isn't my day is it?_

_A/N_

_I'm not very good at making Jazz and Blaster speak the way they do. I apologize for that. Sam has a very good reason for the way she's acting. She might be coming off as a royal biatch but she's a nice person at heart. It's just that she and the Autobots kinda of got off on the wrong foot. I hope nobodies confused or anything. If you have questions PM me and I'll try my best to explain things without spoiling too much of the story. I do have a tiny spoiler. Sam is a human but she also has alien blood. _


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER 7

Starscream was lost. He had waited for Thundercracker and Skywarp by that rock formation for over an two hours but when they didn't show up he grew impatient and decided to walk. He realized he couldn't stay in one place for long lest that crazy hunter find him and try to capture him again. _Who does he think he is trying to capture me? _he wondered, as he walked along, the sun at his back. _and, if my guess is right, why would __**he**__ send somebody to do it after all this time? If he wanted me back to much why didn't he come get me himself? That's right. He'd be far too old for travel by now.. I told him I would never come back. I disowned him. I don't want anything to do with him anyway. Why does he suddenly want me back anyway? I doubt it's because he misses me. _

* * *

The hunter poked her head into what she hoped was the lab. The robot named Jazz had told her it was down the hall but he hadn't specified which room. She didn't want to peek into one of those rooms and see one of those mechs doing something unpleasant. Luck was with her for when she poked her head into the first room she discovered it was the one she was looking for. To her disappointment the robot called Perceptor wasn't in there. She had no idea what he looked like but she'd figured he would look like a robot similar in size and shape to the ones she'd already encountered. The only thing in the room at the moment was a giant microscope on the floor.

_Great, _she though tossing her hands. She folded her arms and leaned against the wall, glaring at the microscope as if it was the Autobot she was looking for. _He isn't here. How am I going to get my suit back if this Perceptor person isn't here? I wonder where he went? He can't be far. _She started to leave then stopped when an idea came to her. She looked over her shoulder, her dark blue eyes centering on the microscope.

"These robots have the ability to change their sieze and shape and become everyday objects," she said to herself, turning back around and walking over to the microscope. "That one robot was able to become a radio device." she put her hand on the 'scope, giving it a careful once over. "If they're able to become something like that then maybe-" she gave the microcope a few hard kicks. "This is who I am looking for!"

The device made an odd sound and began to move. The Hunter stepped back as it started to change shape, growing in size and becoming another humanoid robot. This one was red white and black in color and when it spoke it's voice had a british sounding accent. "Who's there?" it asked, looking around. "Who did that?"

"Down here," she said.

The robot looked toward the sound, lowering his head, and spotted the woman. This one also had blue optics. _Blue must be the official eye color around here._

"You!" he exclaimed. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"You can call me Sam," the woman replied. "and I was led to believe that you have something that belongs to me." she folded her arms and tapped her foot impatiently. "I want it back."

Perceptor's thought processor had to work for a second before he could figure out what she was talking about. "Oh.. Oh!" he exclaimed. "You must be that bounty hunter Prime brought in."

"Yes, that would be me," she said shortly. "Now are you going to give me back my powersuit or do I have to make you?"

He stared at her. She was much smaller than him yet she looked ready to take him on if she didn't get what she wanted. He didn't know if she realized her chances of getting it by force were real slim or she was stupid. "Are you sure you want to do that?" he asked her, scanning her body with his optics. "You seem to have sustained a nasty head injury and leaving before it's properly healed could result in a massive infection."

"It's none of your concern," she told him. "I've dealt with injuries far more serious than a little head scratch. I can take care of myself."

"I never said you couldn't," he said. "But wouldn't it be wise to wait?"

"I don't have_ time _to wait," she snapped. "The more time it takes for me to get what I want the further away my prey will be before I can get on his trail again." she put her hands on her hips. "Now, before I get angry, would you kindly _give me back my powersuit?"_

"I don't think Starscream will get that far," he told her.

She glared at him. "Great, now everybody knows," she muttered, tossing her hands. "Why do you bots care anyway? This is my business and you all have no right to keep me from doing my job." Perceptor seemed to ignore her as he consulted the computer behind him. "Hey!" she shouted, totally offended. "Are you listening to me?!"

"Tell me," he said suddenly changing the subject, not taking his eyes off the computer. "What is Zebes?"

"What?"

He looked down at her. "What is Zebes?" he asked again. "The computer said the components of your suit come from some place called Zebes."

"Zebes is the planet where I grew up," she told him. "It's also the place where I got my suit."

"Fascinating," he said, turning back to the screen. "A strong metal alloy found only on this planet and nowhere else." he put up his hand and rubbed his chin. "I wonder..." he looked down at her. "Would it be possible to go there in the near future so I can obtane a sample and run some tests?"

"Not likely," she replied, shaking her head.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"The planet is gone," she replied. "I blew it up myself."

The scientist looked startled. Sam almost smiled, this was the same reaction the other Autobots had had when she told them. "Why would you _do_ such a thing?" he wanted to know.

"I had to," was her guarded reply. "It was neccessary."

Perceptor got the feeling she didn't want to talk about it and decided not to push it. Though she was acting cold and uncaring about it, he got the feeling she regretted having to do such a thing to a planet she'd called home for most of her life. _I wonder what her story is? _

* * *

"There he is!" Skywarp suddenly exclaimed, pointing down at the desert. "I see him!"

Thundercracker cast his gaze earthward and spotted the Air Commander, a stark red white and silver contrast against the desert floor, limping along with only one good wing. "That's him all right," he said. "But what did he do to himself?"

"Let's fine out," Skywarp said, already changing course. The blue seeker followed.

* * *

"Starscream!" a voice from above caused the Air Commander to stop and cast a cautionary glance at the sky. What he saw filled him with relief. Skywarp and Thundercracker. They had finally found him. "It's about time you got here," he said when they landed. "What took you so long?"

Skywarp stared the tail before Thundercracker could even open his mouth. "Well we were looking for you," he began gesturing so broadly that the other two took some steps back so not to get hit. "But then Thundercracker spotted something and-"

"_I _spotted something?" Thundercracker cut in.

His friend ignored him. "-and so we went to investigate it and we found this strange looking ship that was shaped like an Insecticon and then Thundercracker just had to scan it and it took up a lot of time," he finished in one breath.

Starscream folded his arms, not at all happy at the explanation. "So you took a long time to find me because you got distracted by some ship?" he demanded. "What? is scanning Insecticon looking ships more important than finding me?!"

Skywarp looked sheepish. "Well..," he said, poking his two index fingers against each other. "It did look pretty cool."

"I can't _believe_ this!" Starscream shouted, his temper flaring. "Did you think I would be fine as you two looked at some new toy? I could have been attacked again by that-that-"

"We said we were _sorry_," Thundercracker cut in."If we had known you were going to cry about it we would have come along sooner."

Now Starscream was offended. "Who said I was _crying _about it?!" he exploded. "I am far from _crying about it! _I can't believe you would do such a thing! Did Megatron say you could have stops on the way? Did he say you should take your time finding me!?" he gestured at his damaged wing. "Did you think I could stand to have this kind of damage for very long."

Skywarp started to say something "Well you-"

"I don't want to hear it!" he cut him off. "You idiots need to learn to do what you're told when you're-"

CLANG!

Thundercrackers fist came from somewhere Starscream wasn't expecting. The air Commander took a step back, his hand over his face. He stared at the blue seeker for a moment in surprise then lost it. "How _dare_ you _**strike me**_!"

"Shut up," Thundercracker snapped, his optics cold. "That is enough. Skywarp is not an idiot amd we said we were sorry. We had to investigate that ship because Megatron needs to know about it. As for your wing." he reached out and grabbed the damaged one, yanking Starscream off balance as he got a better look at it. "Your wing can easily be repaired and you were in no danger of going offline as your childish outburst just proved."

The air Commander struggled to get loose. "Let me go!" he shouted.

Thundercracker happily abliged. Starscream steped away from him, his own optics burning with rage and humiliation. "Megatron shall hear about this," he said.

"Go right ahead and tell him," Thundercracker shot back. "But I doubt Megatron will care one way or the other once I tell him what me and Skywarp found."

Starscream couldn't think of a good comeback and said nothing. He folded his arms and glared daggers at the blue mech who met his gaze with the same furiosity.

"Can we just head back to the base?" Skywarp cut in. "This sand is getting in my joints and it really isn't a pleasant feeling."

The other two jets looked at Skywarp who looked really uncomfortable. "Fine," Starscream said. "I won't mention your incompitence to Megatron but before we can go anywhere." he pointed at his wing. "Could somebody please fix this?!"

* * *

"If you're done with your scan could you give me back my suit now?" Sam demanded after a few more moments.

Perceptor looked away from the computer once more. He'd forgotten that she was there for a moment. "If you insist," he said, taking the suit out of his chest compartment. "But I would still love to analize it a bit longer. Maybe Wheeljack and I could try to duplicate the metal used to create it."

"I don't think so," she said, taking the suit. She pressed a button and the powersuit closed around her body, fitting her form perfectly. She picked up the helmet and noticed the visor had been fixed. She put it on and it attached itself firmly to the suit, completing the look.

Perceptor gave her another one of his curious looks. "Fascinating," he said, putting his hands on the console and kneeling down to her level. "the suit seems to become a part of you once you put it on."

"It was designed that way," she said, holding up her right arm and studying it for a moment. "The suit was created to fit me and nobody else. A custom design that cannot be duplicated." she lowered her arm and looked around. "Now if you don't mind could you show me to the exit?"

He hesiated. "But Prime-," he began.

"I don't work for Prime," she told him, impatiently. "He does not need to know my business and if he tries to send anyone to follow me I will not stand by and let him." she pointed at the scientist's face with her left hand. "If he asks you will tell him what I just told you, understand?"

"Well..." he thought for a moment then asked. "Would you really attack one of us if we followed you?"

"Yes," she told him instantly, without even giving it a thought. "I would."

"But why?" he asked. "Why would you attack us if we followed you? What if we follow you just to make sure you'll be all right?"

"Perceptor," she said in a voice like a mother scolding her four year old. "You don't seem to understand. Something _will_ happen to me. I intend to find Starscream and it is very likely that we'll get into it again. I don't need you or your Autobot pals interfering."

"But we could help you capture him," he started to protest.

"I am aware of this," she said. "But I don't want or need your help. If I change my mind I'll let you know but that is highly unlikely." she turned to go.

"But, but," he began.

She stopped and turned her head once more. Though he couldn't see her face under the helmet he knew she was glaring at him. "Not another word."

* * *

A few minutes later the hunter exited the base without much more trouble, besides a few arguments on her way out, and was finally able to contact her client and fill him in on her progress, though there wasn't much to tell.

"Well?" came Silverblade's impatient reply as soon as the screen lit up. "Where have you been and why haven't you contacted me? Have you captured Starscream yet?"

"Unfortunately no," the hunter replied.

"Well why not?"

"I have currenly been unconcious and lost my suit," she replied.

"What?"

"Your little boy almost killed me," she snapped. "You may have made him a coward but he's a very_ violent _coward. He used one of those guns on his arm on me and nearly blew my head off!"

"When I built Starscream he was no equipt with guns."

'Then they must be an upgrade like that forced courage he's getting," she told him. "Next time I run into him I'm going to fight from a distance."

"What made you get so close to him anyway?"

She hated to admit it. "I made a rookie mistake and let my guard down," she replied. "I'm _not_ going to let it happen again."

"You'd better not," he muttered."I have half a mind to find somebody else to do the job."

If he meant to offend her he succeded. "I _won't _fail," she told him testily. "I'll capture him for you and bring him back within two days."

He didn't sound convinced as he asked. "Can I count on that?"

She made a fist and gestured with it. "You can!"

"Fine," he said, nodding. "Two days. Now I won't bother you anymore until then and that goes the same for you. Deal?"

She was relieved at his words and couldn't hold back a smirk. "Deal."

"Then get to work." and the screen flashed out.

* * *

With help from Thundercracker and Skywarp Starscream's wing was repaired just enough to enable him to fly again. They couldn't finish the repairs there because they didn't have the right tools. Hopefully Starscream's wing would hold out long enough to get him back to the base. The other two seekers didn't really want to carry their commander back to the base.

"Okay, Screamer," Skywarp said when they were done. "Let's see you test it out."

Starscream shot the black and purple seeker a glare. He really wished Skywarp would stop calling him that. He didn't say anything though because it was pointless to do so. Skywarp would just keep on calling him that no matter how many times he was told to stop. He turned his back to the other jets and transformered, rising into the sky to test out his wing and make sure it would hold. He did a few rolls to make sure and everything seemed to fine... until he went to land. As he glided back to the ground the wing suddenly decided it wanted to break into pieces. The part broke off and Starscream was falling. The two jets on the round heard him screaming bloody murder and saw him crash nose first into the sand.

Thundercracker and Skywarp ran over to him to see what happened when Thundercracker saw the piece had broken off he turned to Skywarp. "I knew that would happen," he said.

Starscream transformed and glared at the other two. "You did that on purpose!" he accused.

"No we didn't," Thundercracker protested.

"Then how did it happen?"

"It was an accident," he told the air commander. "and if it's anybody's fault it's yours."

Starscream got up and faced Thundercracker, pointing a thumb at himself as he demanded. "How is it my fault?"

"You wree the one who did the barrel rolls," the black and blue jet replied, folding his arms. "If you hadn't of done that your wings would be just fine."

Starscreasm folded his arms. "I can't be blamed for this!" he protested. "If it wasn't for your sloppy repairs this never would have happened to me!"

Thundercracker glanced over at Skywarp then slowly walked over to Starscream. Once he was only inches away he stopped and leaned his head forward, invading the air commander's space as he got right in his face. "Would you like to repair it yourself?" he asked in a low voice.

Starscream met the other seeker's optics and held them. "You know full well I can't reach back that far," he growled. "How do you expect me to repair myself?"

Thundercracker put his hands on his hips. "I don't."

The Air Commander stepped back, his red eyes full of anger, seething. "How do you expect me to get back to the base if with a broken wing?" he demanded.

"You could walk," Thundercracker told him. "It might do you some good. It'll help you lose some of that extra weight."

"How _dare_ you!" Starscream shouted, looking ready to start a fight. He held himself back, though and turned away from them. "Fine. I think I_ will_. It would be better than flying with people who sabitage my wings!" he walked off and the others didn't bother calling him back.

When he was a good enough distance away Skywarp turned to his friend. "Starscream doesn't need to lose weight!" he said.. "We don't even _gain _weight."

"I know that," Thundercracker told him. "But I wonder how long it'll take before Starscream realizes this."

* * *

The Hunter once again picked up Starscream's energy signature but, as she had feared, it was faint and far away. "Darn!" she exclaimed, clenching a fist. "I knew this would happen! But I can't really blame the Autobots wholy for this. It's my fault too." She glanced over her shoulder back at the Autobot's base. So far nobody was following her, which was a relief. "Maybe that big Autobot took my message seriously." she looked ahead, smiling. "Good. Now I don't have to worry about a distraction but first-" she changed direction. "I need to get back to my ship and recharge." she lifted her clenched fist, watching it shake as she applied more pressure. "This time I _won't_ be taken by surprise!"

_A/N Please stop pointing out when somebody is OOC, please. I am already aware of that. I do not feel like dragging Sam's stay at the Autobot base but I might have the encounter used in a flashback later on in the story. More things happened while she was there but right now they're not important._

_**If you have any questions or comments or you like it so far please let me know, okay? **_


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER 8

The ship looked untouched when Samu finally located it. She stood still for a moment, studying the structure and then the area around it, her body tense and her senses on alert. She didn't know if anything was really there but if it was she would be ready for it. For all she knew somebody, maybe even her target, might be hiding close by waiting for her to return to finish her off.

After a moment she concluded that there was no threat and allowed herself to relax. She stepped into the ship taking off her helmet once inside. She stepped into the recharge berth and turned on the power. The lights in the ship came on and she settled back as her suit's power slowly climbed to full. As she waited, she tapped orders into the console built into the recharge area.

**Bombs, Missles, and Power Ups confirmed. Adding to Suit Abilities Now. **

She took her hand off the controls and smirked. _This time he won't get away!_

* * *

Starscream walked along too ticked off to pay attention to where he was going or care. He was too angry at Thundercracker to care about anything anymore and wouldn't have minded running into a threat just so he would have something to take his anger out on. _The nerve of him! _he thought, clenching his fist at his sides. _How dare he call me fat! I'm not fat! He's just jealous! Him and Megatron. They're all jealous of me. They're all jealous and that's why they won't make me the leader. Megatron knows I'd make a better leader and that's why he won't let me. He's scared of me. _The seeker smirked, enjoying his own thought, believing it to be true. _Yes that has to be it and with good reason. He already knows what I'm capable of but he doesn't realize I am can do more, much more than that. He's only seen a taste of my power, power it took me years to gain. He'll soon see it and he'll realize just how wrong he was about me. _His smirk grew into a smile as he thought about the scene, the feeling it giving him a very welcomed change. _But first I should test it out on something. _

He stopped and looked over his shoulder. _Maybe on something I have already encountered..._

* * *

After ten minutes had passed the computer informed the hunter that the recharge was complete. She turned off the system, and stepped out of the berth, doing a quick inventory of the upgrades to her suit. Everything seemed to be in order. Suit Energy at one hundred percent, bombs at one hundred percent, laser beams at one hundred percent. Missiles at one hundred percent. _Good, _she thought picking her helmet up off the floor. _This should make things much simpler. That shrieky voiced jet isn't going to get the best of me this time. Not if I can help it. _She stepped out of the ship and once again checked the distance between her and her target. He didn't seem to be running away this time. For some reason it seemed he was coming _toward _her. This was a surprise and a relief. _Well I never had my target come to me before so this could be a good thing or a bad one. _she checked the status of her suit again, smiling at the high energy marks. _Maybe this will be easy. _

She turned her head to the left, the direction the signature was coming from. "Well I'm not about to stand here and let my ship be vunerable," she said, already moving. "The last thing I need is that robot blasting it on me."

She climbed over some rocks, putting more distance between her and the ship and thus putting more distance between the robot and the ship. She was not dumb enough to wait for him to come to her. She could come to him and they'd meet half way. She jumped over another set of rocks, her eyes searching the desert for her prey. Because of his color choice he would stick out like a sore thumb. _So don't even __**try **__sneaking up on me, _she thought, her arm clicking. _Because you __**can't**__!_

She froze, her eyes picking up a shadow that didn't seem to belong. She focused on the shadow, her body tense and her breathing even. Soon it was apparent that whatever it was wasn't going to come to her and she relaxed slightly but only long enough to get moving. She didn't know what it was but she wasn't going to take any chances if it was what she was after.

_Let's see what you are, _she thought, carefully making her way to the spot.

As she neared it, she kept her eyes on the shadow. It still didn't move but she wasn't going to let her guard down. Something told her it wasn't anyhing but she wasn't taking any chances. It might be something it might be nothing. _Either way I'm going to get a good look just to be sure. _

A few more steps got her to a spot with a good vantage point. She put her back to the rock formation, which cast a shadow over her, and scooted along the wall, her head turned sideways. _Okay, let's see what you are. _A few more steps and she reached the end. Taking a deep breath she jumped out of the shadow and faced the area where the shadow was her gun aimed... and then lowered it. She almost laughed at herself when she realized that the shadow had been nothing more than mere rocks casting their shadow against more rocks. _Well that was a waste. _

She put her hands on her hips studying the shadow. "Well it could have been anything," she told herself. "and at least it lets me know that I'm getting more cautious. Maybe this time I won't make that mistake again." she turned from the rocks and the shadow that fooled her and stepped away from it, heading to another formation not too far away that had a staircase shape to it. She hopped the first two steps then went up the rest, stopping when she reached the top and scanning the desert from the higher elevation. Now she could see more of the area but she still couldn't see her target. _He must still be a pretty good distance away, _she thought, glancing back down at her scanner. The energy signal was getting closer. _But not for long. _Crouching down she opened a compartment in her suit and two small discs fell into her hand. She stood back up and looked around herself. _If he comes this way I'd better be ready. _

She jumped down from her perch.

* * *

Starscream stopped walking and checked his barings. This part of the desert looked the same as the desert he'd left behind. He sighed in frustration. _Slag! _It didn't help that the last time he had been this way it had been dark and he'd been running away from something and hadn't had the time to pay attention to the landscape, or even think about it. He hadn't expected to come this way again anyway. _So why am I even bothering? _he wondered. _Maybe I shouldn't have let Thundercracker's words get to me. I should have gone back to the base with them but I can't now. They're gone. _It was true. By the time he'd returned to the spot where he'd left them the other two jets had already left. Since his comlink was still damaged he couldn't get in contact with them and they couldn't contact him.

_I can't believe they did such a thing! _he thought frustrated, his mind still on their arguement. _Megatron is going to hear about this once I get back! Those two aren't going to get away with leaving me here, not if I can help it!_

He clenched his fists and looked around himself. "It doesn't help that I think I'm lost, I can't fly, I was stalked by something I might have killed but not sure, and I know Megatron will blame me for something once I get back! And I can't even find the ship it came in to destroy it!!" He angrily lifted his arm and shot large rock. The stone exploded, sending a shower of pebbles everywhere. He turned from that rock and fired at a few others, blowing them up too and sending shards of stone in every direction. Some pebbles plinked against his body but he gave them no thought. He was too ticked off at his recent bad luck to care. He spotted a large stone a pretty good distance away and ran up to it, grabbing it and lifting it off the ground. That's when he realized his mistake. It was too heavy!

The stone started pulling him backwards. Not wanting to fall over he threw the rock away and steadied himself. Once he regained his balance he stood still a moment, his optics centering on the stone he couldn't lift. Raising his arm he shot that stone too and when it exploded he dodged the debre and went off to find more.

Ten minutes later he was standing in the middle of piles of rubble, panting. As his optics took in the chaos he'd created he realized he felt a little better now that he'd taken his frustration out on something. Taking a few deep breaths he got enough air to stand up straight. He smiled to himself. Yeah he felt better. This little temper tantrum just told him what he needed to know about himself. Nobody was going to make him miserable anymore if he could help it. _If Megatron only knew just how powerful I really am... _he glanced at his null guns. He'd been built as a jet on Cybertron but the guns hadn't been a part of his original design, though they fit it very well. The upgrade he'd gotten when he'd become a Decepticon was something he'd never imagined when he was a scientist. They always made him feel important, especially after all the time, work, and trickory he'd done to get to the rank of second in command. _Sometimes I wonder about that title. I wonder if he only gave it to me to keep an eye on me?_

In the beginning when he'd first joined he'd made the mistake of opening his big mouth and saying he would be the next leader. Megatron had laughed it off, telling him he'd never get that rank and to just be happy he'd let him join in the first place. At that time the grey decepticon had some respect for him and had even told him he reminded him of himself when he was that age. Still the those words echoed his creators all too close and, thus ending any repect he might have had for the Decepticon commander, Starscream had vowed that he'd show both Megatron and Silverblade he could do anything he wanted. He was so close to that rank but until something happened to Megatron, like a permament death, that would never happen.

Sitting down on one of the rocks he didn't detroy he thought back to the day he'd gone to join the ranks... It was so long ago but the memory was crystal clear because it was so painful, literally.

* * *

_Cybertron_ _a few million years ago_

It had been sometime after the war had started. Starscream had left Silverblade's lab a few days before and was wondering through the streets of Cybertron, trying to locate the place where Megatron was recrouting new soilders. So far he hadn't found the place and he started feeling lost. He'd never realy been on the actual planet before except for once a few years back when Silverblade had taken him to a convention. That's when he'd first heard about the Decepticons. At that time it had been just a rumor, same with the existance of Optimus Prime. The whole thing intriged him. When he'd asked his creator about it the older mech had told him not to worry about it.

"It's not anything for you to worry about, Starscream," he had told him. "If the Decepticons exist at all, they're probably just a few mechs that aren't satisfied with how the goverment works." He put his hand on the slightly smaller mechs shoulder. "It's best if you avoid such rabble."

Now he was looking for that 'rabble" but could't seem to find their location. Whenever he'd come across somebody who might know they'd refuse to answer so he had to look for it himself. He was not liking this. He'd noticed how some of the bots were looking at him. He knew why they were staring. He was a Neutral. A robot with no fraction. A robot who did not take sides. That was a very dangerous place to be. He smirked. It wouldn't last much longer, he'd make sure of that.

Eventually he found himself at a energon bar. He stood outside for a moment reading the name of the palce and wondering if he should go inside and ask about it. Maybe the bar tender would be able to tell him something? As luck would have it he saw a transformer with the signature purple marking of a Decepticon walk into the bar with a Neutral femme.

_Perfect. _This Decepticon might be able to point him in the right direction. Working up the courage he clenched his fists, took a deep breath, and stepped quickly into the bar before he changed his mind.

As soon as he stepped inside he felt all optics instantly turn on him. All chatter stopped as the bots in the bar, mostly Decepticons and a few neutral femmebots, turned to stare at him. He instantly felt what little courage he had had slipping away. _Why do they all have to stare at me?! Why __**are**__ they staring at me?_

The only one who wasn't staring at him was the Decepticon he'd followed in. Swallowing hard he met everyone's gaze and spoke in what he hoped was a strong voice, though to his audio receptor's it sounded as weak as he felt. "I don't want any trouble," he began. "I am only here to ask a question."

A hulking bot, purple and yellow in color with a red sunglasses like optic visor stepped in front of him. "Ask away," he said, folding his arms.

Starscream knew instantly that he didn't like this bot who seemed to think towering over him would make him feel inferior. He tried to keep his voice even as he stated his business. "I-I'm looking for the place where Megatron is recruting soldiers."

The Decepticon snorted. "You?" he asked, a mocking tone in his voice. He laughed and so did others in the room. When the laughter died down the robot continued. "Why don't you run along home?" he asked, turning his finger in indication that Starscream should leave. "Why don't you come back one your voice is done changing?"

Starscream opened his mouth to say something as more laughter filled the room, then thought better of it and kept it shut. Speaking wouldn't help. His creator had given him another handicapt. A horrible voice that screeched badly when he was angry or upset and right now he was both. If he was calm his problem wasn't so bad but now...

The Decepticon gave him a nudge. "Run along and play with the other sparklings." he said, as more laughter followed his words..

Starscream deflected the finger that was poking him with indigantion. He had not come here to be poked or laughed at. Why did they have to do both? He'd always hated being laughed at and touched. He felt his temper rising, though he did to keep it under control. He didn't want or need a fight. He just wanted information. "Don't touch me."

The other bot poked him again, sensing he didn't like it. "Aren't we feisty?" he said. "You'd better leave before you get yourself in trouble. You wouldn't want anybody to get hurt would you?"

Starscream started to say. "I-"

"Because nobody here wants to lug your carcass out of here."

More laughter. Starscream's fists clenched even tighter. First laughed at then poked and now being told he was a weakling. That was the last straw. "Shut up!" he shouted, shoving the bot back.

The purple robot fell back onto a table behind him. A femme screamed as the table bent then broke under the mech's weight. Starscream sensed the mood in the bar change instantly . More bots stood up, all of them looking at him with murder in their identical red optics. He stepped back, putting up his hands. "Uh.. now.. there's no need for that," he began.

One bot, a purple and green construction make, glanced at all his buddy's "I think he's telling us what to do," he said.

Instantly all the Decepticons bots were on their feet. If there was one thing Decepticons hated more than Autobots it was smart alecky Neutrals bossing them around. The femmes moved out of the way. The bar tender didn't dare get involved. The only robot who didn't even look up was the one he'd followed in who seemed to be oblivious to the whole thing.

Starscream knew he was dead if he didn't get out of there. He turned to run but two more bots blocked the entrance. He was trapped. _Slag! _His optics scanned the room for any other escape route. There were none. That left him with only one choice. he'd would have to defend himself. That sort of thing was beyond his programming. Once again he cursed his creator up and down his mind for making him such a coward. _If I die I hope my ghost comes back to haunt you! _Hopefully that wouldn't happen. He didn't have a weapon so he'd make due with what he did have. His fists.

When he turned back to the other bots, two came up from behind and grabbed his arms, yanking them behind his back. Screams he'd been holding in came bursting out of his mouth as the other robots came at him, looking ready to tear off his limbs and share them amougst themselves. There was no way he was getting out of this alive. "No!" he shrieked, struggling in vain to break free. "Noo!"

The one he'd pushed was up now and pushing his way through the crowd. "Nobody touches him!" he was shouting. "He's mine! When I'm done with him his voice box won't be the only thing broken!" He shoved a bot aside. "Out of my way!"

The bots parted like the Red Sea, giving the purple robot some room. He stepped out of the crowd and towered over the smaller, now trembling, bot who'd been stupid enough to shove him. "You made a big mistake coming here," he said, grabbing the robot by the face. "You want to see what Decepticons do to people who cross them? I'll show you."

The fist seemed to come out of nowhere and crashed into the jet's face. He screamed in pain as the purple bot hit him again and again. Soon more robots joined in, punching, kicking, and making any kind of sport of him, laughing as he struggled to break free from the merciless grasp of the two robots holding his arms. This was something they didn't get to do often.

The young scientist mech screamed once more before another fist plunged into his throat cutting off the sound. One more blow knocked his head sideways and his optics blanked out for a moment. He fought to stay concious. He wouldn't give them the satisfaction.

He felt a hand on his face, jerking it upward. That purple robot was grinning at him mockingly. "You shouldn't have ever left the play ground kid," he said, raising his fist. "Time to say good bye to you pitiful existance, Neutral!"

"Enough!" a voice shouted

That fist stayed where it was. Starscream forced his optics to focus. The Decepticon he'd followed had gotten up and was now standing behind the his tormentor, holding onto his raised arm. The other Decepticon looked at the one who had grabbed hi, his face full of shock. "But-" he began.

"I said enough. Blitzwing," the robot said. He looked at all the blood thirtsy robots who had ganged up on the defenseless young mecha. "That goes for the rest of you! Go back to your drinks."

The Decepticons in the bar obeyed instantly but with much grumbling. Some shot dirty looks at the beaten up and limp young Neutral. The only two who didn't move where the ones holding Starscream's arms. Without their support he would have fallen since by then his legs no longer seemed to be able to support him.

The mech that had saved his life knelt down infront of him and put out his hand, lifting Starscream's drooping head with one finger. Starscream's optics flickered on and off and he tried to focus. The Decepticon's red optics looked into his own, as he asked. "What is your name?"

Starscream opened mis mouth and spoke in a voice tha twas more raspy than usualy thanks to the blow he'd recieved to his throat. It was a miracle he could talk at all. "Starscream," he slurred only half the word an intelligable sound.

The Mecha understood his slurred speech anyway. "Why did you come here, Starscream?" he asked.

"I want to become a Decepticon," he said his voice a little stronger.

The mech looked surprised at the answer. This young mech still wanted to become a Decepticon even after he'd been nearly torn to pieces by a whole mob of them? "Why?" the mech asked, sounding surprised and confused.

"I.." Stascream's voice faded and his optics flashed. _No! I can't black out now! I have to tell him! _He forced himself to speak, his voice as clear as he could get it. "Because I have something to prove."

The confused look on the mecha's face was the last thing he saw before his optics blinked out completely. His head drooped and he felt the mechs holding him finally let go of his arms. His body seemed to float to the hard metal floor. He couldn't have stopped himself from falling even if he wanted to, so he just let himself fall. His body hit the floor with a clang and he completely lost all awareness as the blackness enveloped his mind.

* * *

_Earth Present Day_

Yes that's how it had been, in all its painful detail. He glanced at his left arm, noticing the small scar groove that was a constant reminder of that first encounter with the fraction he now called his own. He'd been so young then. So foolish. He'd gone into that bar without even a plan and had gotten himself nearly killed only to be saved by the one mech he now wanted to overthrow. He smirked. Oh the irony. But that might explain why he was always treated so harshly. For some reason the thought made him smile. _Even then I had my own agenda. He should have just let me die. _

He stood up, shaking the memories aside. It was best not to think about it. He had something in the present to worry about. Something that was much more important than flashbacks about how much of a wimp he used to be.

The thing he should have dealt with the night it landed. That hunter's ship. If he destroyed it he'd be able to relax because he would no longer have a reminder of his brief encounter with that thing, whatever it was.

"So let's get to it," he told himself, looking around. "Now that I have calmed down I do recognize this area. That hunter's ship shouldn't be too far off."

He got moving.

_A/N_

_I got this huge boat load of inspiration yesterday evening and that's where a huge chunk of this chapter came from. Like I said before I have never read the comics so if it's inaccurate I apologize, unless of course if they never explain his origins that far back, then I'm off the hook. Once again this is a chapter I enjoyed working on. I hope none of you want to kill me for this. I was planning on making him have a few flashbacks anyway. _


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER 9

"So Startscream refused to come back with you," Megatron said after Skywarp and Thundercracker had filled him in.

The two jets looked at each other, nervously. "Yes," Thundercracker replied. He was lying but he couldn't tell Megatron the truth about _why_ Starscream hadn't returned with them. The Decepticon Commander would not be happy with the real reason.

"He said he didn't like you calling him fat," Skywarp said, without thinking.

"What?" Megatron stared at the black and purple seeker. "I never said he was fat."

Thundercracker smacked his forehead with his palm. _Why oh why did Skywarp have to say that? _

Skywarp, to his credit realized he had said the wrong thing. He smiled nervously and put up his hands. "Eh... I worded that wrong. He said he didn't like being ordered around by a cowardly robot with a fat head."

"Ohh..." Thundercracker moaned. _Just shut up already! _

Megatron was wise to things Skywarp said. The seeker had always been a bad liar. He looked from one seeker to another, taking note of Skywarp's nervous smile and Thundercracker's obvious agitation to what his wingmate was saying. It wasn't hard to notice something amiss. "What are you two not telling me?" he demanded.

"Uh..." Skywarp began.

The Decepticon Commander ignored him and turned his full attention on Thundercracker who was still hiding his face in his hand. "Thundercracker!" he shouted.

The gray and blue jet looked up, startled. "Uh, yes, Megatron?" he said.

"Why don't you tell me what happened?"

"I um.. uh..."

Megatron grew impatient. "Stop stalling," he snapped. "I know you two aren't telling me the truth. If you don't want me to show you what I do to liars then you'd better tell me what happened, what_ really _happened."

Thundercracker looked miserable. He looked over at Skywarp who met his optics, looking worried, then looked back at Megatron. Taking a deep breath he said. "I take full responsibility for it."

"For what?"

"We were unable to fix his wing properly and he crashed," the seeker replied, feeling miserable. "He accused us of sabotage and one of us, I'm not sure which, called him fat and he got offended and stalked off. When we tried to contact him he didn't answer." he shrugged. "That's what happened. I don't know where Starscream is."

Megatron folded his arms and gave the two seekers a long hard look. He knew they were telling the truth this time but it didn't make him feel any better. _Idiots. _"And you three couldn't for one day not get into a fight about something?" he asked, his voice strained. It wasn't that he cared about Starscream in anyway it was just that he sensed that the jet might have had something important to tell him.

"Well we do have something else to tell you," Thundercracker spoke up quickly.

"What?" Megatron asked testily.

"While we were looking for Starscream we found something."

That got Megatron's attention. He looked at Thundercracker curiously, seemingly instantly forgetting about his and Skywarp's blunder. The blue and gray jet knew better. "What did you find?"

"A ship."

"A ship?"

Thundercracker nodded. "Yes, and it's not from Earth or Cybertron. It looks like it came from somewhere else."

Megatron let that sink in then ordered. "Describe it for me."

The jet did the best he could. "It was red, and yellow with some green and it was shaped like those things the humans call beetles but without the legs. It was also a little on the small side so..."

"Hmm..." Megatron thought for a moment then asked. "Anything else?"

Thundercracker shook his head. "I don't think so," he replied. "We couldn't get inside so we couldn't tell you where it's from or why it's even there."

"It could belong to the Autobots."

"I didn't see the fraction symbol and I don't think they're building ships on other planets unless they know how to shrink themselves to fit in them."

"Yes, there is that." he admitted. He thought about it a moment then made a descition. He looked at both seekers and said. "Take me to it. I want to see it for myself.

* * *

Sam checked on the incoming signal from her target. He was still coming toward her but his pace had changed. She was still pretty close to her ship so she started moving toward the signal, putting more distance between herself and the ship. The last thing she needed was him destroying her ship. She'd had that sort of thing happen to her before and she wasn't about to have that incident repeat itself.

_Still, one can't be too careful, _she thought, her eyes on the signal and her senses on alert. _Even if I do put a great amount of stretch between us and the ship a stray missile might still hit it. _The chances of that happening were slim but she was thinking from all angles. Starscream wasn't as dumb as people made him out to be. Or he just had a great deal of self preservation skills. _That might be it. Silverblade did say that his "son" was selfish. What's more selfish than looking out for ones self? _She had to smile at that. _Aren't we all a little selfish? _

The signal told her she didn't have far to go. She didn't waste anymore time walking. The upgrades to her suit allowed her to cover more distance at a big higher speed, if she didn't run into something on the way. It was hard to stop running when she used it and usually took a few seconds to slow down. Right now that didn't seem important. If it helped her cover the distance she'd use it. _I just hope I'll be able to stop before he sees me. _She picked up the pace, the upgrades in the leg parts of her suit coming online and starting up. Increasing her speed slowly, the boosters in her feet came fully online and she took off across the desert, her body reaching speeds that weren't humanly possible. _This time I won't make the same mistake I did last time. I just hope he doesn't learn from our past experience. _she thought, her arm clicking as she reset the power level.

* * *

Of course Starscream wasn't about to be taken unaware this time around, even if he didn't know she was still alive he'd set his scanners just to be sure. If she proved to be alive he could savor the satisfaction of defeating her again and smashing her ship in the process. He was still pretty far from the landing site when his scanners went off, telling him that something was heading in his direction. He stopped for a moment, letting the information process. When it finished he clenched his fists and hissed through his teeth. "No."

He looked around himself. All he could see was desert. If that thing really was coming up on him he'd be able to spot it, even though it was much smaller than himself. _If it is that person it can't be human, _he thought. _Not at the rate it's going. _ His optics picked up something to his left. Turning his head he spotted the cloud of sand. _If that's who I think it is they just gave themselves away. _

He got moving, changing his position and finding a better vantage point behind some rocks. The best one he could have had was in the sky but with his wing damaged the way it was, flying was out of the question.

* * *

Sam noticed the jet before she got too close to the spot where he was standing. She slowed down her pace slightly and saw him duck behind a rock formation. She smiled to herself. _He must think I'm the dumbest person alive. _She brought herself to a stop, her body skidding forward slightly with the momentum. She braced herself, waiting for her body to stop. A few seconds later the ground stopped moving under her and she stood, her blue eyes locked on Starscream's location. She couldn't see him now but she knew where he was. _If I can see him he can see me. _

She paused a moment, checking the status of her suit. So far everything still seemed normal. She had failed to do that before and that might have been one of the reasons she'd been so easily beaten besides she herself making that mistake. _Won't happen this time. Hopefully he won't think of using those things attached to his arms again and hopefully he's got even worse aim than before. _She smirked. Like he'd be dumb enough to do that.

If he'd seen her then he wouldn't make the same mistake twice either. He couldn't afford to get careless just like she couldn't.

_So let's not play any games this time, shall we? _she thought, her left hand clicking at the controls on her right. _Let's show each other what we are __**really**__ made of. _

* * *

Starscream checked the energy status on his null guns. The power levels were low but not low enough to cause any worry if he was careful and didn't shoot blindly. _Let's see you sneak up on me this time, _he thought, removing the guns from his forearms and resetting the effects._ I've got more than just null guns that I can use to deal with you. I don't know how you survived a point blank shot to the face but this time you won't be so lucky._

He peeked over the top of the rocks he was hiding behind and flinched, half expecting another one of the Hunters missiles to hit him in the face. This time none came and he was able to scan the area. His sensors picked up the heat of the hunter but he couldn't see her. He knew she was there he just didn't know where. Ducking down again he finished setting the effects and reattached the guns to his arms.

* * *

Sam figured the best way to get the upper hand would be to sneak up on him from behind. She finished setting her weapons then got moving, staying close to the rocks and shadows as the sun sank lower in the sky. _Hopefully he won't hear me coming, _she thought then chided herself. Starscream was five times the size of her. It was unlikely that any sound she made could be heard by him. _For all I know he hears my voice as a tiny high pitched noise. _She smirked at that. _Not that he can say anything about my voice when his own isn't that great to begin with. _

She paused for a moment, letting caution take hold. Starscream could be watching her right now and waiting for her to sneak up on him. She'd just make sure that didn't happen. _You could just be getting paranoid. _A voice in her head said.

_Just cautious, _she argued back, creeping along, her back against the rock wall. _I've been in enough situations to know that the mistake I made shouldn't have happened. _She began charging up at blast. _I'll make sure this time I have no blunders. _

A few minutes later she reached the rock he was hiding behind. She cautiosly peeked around the side. A pink laser came at her face and she ducked back.

"Don't think I'm going to let you sneak up on me again," the jets shrieky voice met her ears. "I can sense your heat signature and know exactly where you are!"

She ducked as another laser hit the rocks she was hiding behind and exploded, sending the debres falling around her.

_Shoot! _she thought, dashing behind some more rocks as another laser hit the ground behind her. _He did learn from before and it seems his aim has gotten better too!_

Starscream stood and watched her hide behind another set of rocks. He congradulated himself for not freaking out or getting careless this time. He was also surprised that this time around he felt no urge to flee. Maybe it was just because right now he wasn't letting his cowardise take over.

_Sorry father, _he thought, sighting down the rocks the hunter was hiding behind. _But your little hunter friend isn't getting his prize today!_

Sam sensed the incoming laser fire and dived out of the way seconds before the rocks she'd been using as cover exploded. She landed catlike on the sand and glared up at the tall mech standing a hundred feet away. He had raised both his arms and looked ready to fire again. She raised her arm and shot off the charge, hoping it had reached full power. When she saw the shot she was instantly disappointed. It was only seventy five percent. Maybe it would do the job anyway.

Starscream saw the ball of energy coming and jumped back. The shot hit the ground where he'd been standing and exploded, spewing piles of sand everywhere.

"You'll have to do better than that!" he shouted, as sand rained down on him. He raised his arm and fired again.

She dodged the blast and jumped onto some rocks to aim better. It would be awhile before her cannon charge got powerful enough to be fired again so she'd have to use something else while it was charging up. She watched him turn and sight her down again. She stood still a moment, waiting for him to fire. When he did she shot a missile.

The projectile contacted with the laser and both exploded, sending a wave of energy so powerful it knocked both of them off their feet. Sam landed on the ground on her back and skidded another few feet before stopping. Starscream fell flat on his back and didn't go any further. He was the first one up and the first one to fire. The hunter saw the shot coming and dived out of the way before shooting off a missile that Starscream easily deflected.

The hunter's eyes widened as he batted the missile away, making it sail to the left and into the ground where in blew on impact. "That move won't work this time," he told her, smirking. "Maybe you should use something different."

She clenched her teeth together, scrambling to her feet and taking aim again. "and you need to get your voice box fixed!" she shouted back before firing.

Once again he saw it coming and smacked the missile away. The hunter cursed and dashed to the left as he opened fire upon her. "How about I blow off more than your face this time?!" he screamed, a steady hail of shots trailing the hunter as she ran, avoiding each hit by mere centameters.

She jumped over a mound of sand but miscalculated the distance and landed hard on the ground, her legs being thrown in front of her. She landed on her back and felt pain shoot through her entire body. She ignored it and forced herself to move, knowing she couldn't let pain cloud her thinking while the jet mech was shooting at her. Her suits built in computer was beeping, warning her that her power levels were dropping. She ignored the warning, knowing she still had enough power to take that hunk of metal out. She got up and turned her head.

Starscream was coming toward her. In the waning sunlight she could see his cocky smile. He was winning and he knew it. She hadn't even scratched him. To make matters worse her head was aching and now her back hurt. _Damn! _she thought.

She checked the blast she'd been letting charge. It was almost at full power. If this didn't work nothing would. _I just have to wait for the right moment. _She didn't wait for the jet to find her. She quickly changed hiding places, realizing that she had suddenly become the prey. _As long as he has power in those arm cannons I can't get close to him. Even with his aim being less than perfect he could still blow up some rocks and the shards could pierce my powersuit. _She leaned her back against the rocks, her eyes on the power level of her arm cannon. _My best chance is to hit him hard with the charge beam Hopefully he won't see it coming this time and move. _It was worth a shot because she was going to try it.

* * *

Skywarp, Thundercracker, and Megatron, unaware of the two person war going on only two miles from their current location, dropped out of the sky and landed in front of the strange ship the seekers had spoken about. Megatron got down on one knee and put his hand on the ship, feeling the cold unearthly metal. This ship definitely wasn't made by humans and from the size and shape wasn't Cybertronian either. _But it looks familiar for some reason._ "I believe I know what this is," he said after a moment.

"You do?" Thundercracker asked.

Megatron didn't look up as he explained. "This metal is familiar," he told them. "I've been to the planet it came from."

The two jets looked surprised. "You have?"

Megatron nodded, standing up, his eyes still on the ship.The height was a few feet above his own so he had to jump up to get onto the top. He landed gently and stared down at the symbols on the top. He couldn't read them but that didn't matter. "This ship was made from a metal from a planet called Zebes," he explained. "Zebes residents consist of highly evolved birdlike creatures with a vast inteligents." he knelt down to look at the markings again. "I can tell from the symbols that they built this ship."

Skywarp looked at Thundercracker. He made a face. The blue and gray jet shook his head, doing his best to keep a straight face. The last thing he needed was to crack up and make Megatron think he was laughing at him. He asked Megatron. "Do you think those bird people brought this ship here?"

Megatron shook his head. 'That is unlikely," he replied. "The race as been extinct for years and the planet no longer exists."

Thundercracker stared at him. "No longer exists?" he said. "What do you-"

A distant explosion cut him off. The three Decepticons turned their heads toward the sound.

"What was that?" Skywarp asked.

Megatron stood up and jumped off the ship. He landed between them. "That," he said knowingly. "was probably the one you called fat fighting Autobots by himself."

The Decepticon rose into the air and flew toward the location. "We'd better assist him."

* * *

"Where are you, hunter?" Starscream said, stepping closer to Sam's current hiding spot. "I know you're here. You won't get away from me that easily. I'm not exactly sure what you want from me but I will tell you this: If who I think sent you sent you you'd better tell him that I'm not interested in coming back. Ever!"

Sam peeked over the rock. The jet was searching for her but hadn't spotted her yet. If she could keep it that way she might regain her advantage. "Let's play this by my rules now," she whispered, ducking down again and dashing to her left and toward a large sand mound. This time she was going to get behind him. She_ had _to get behind him. _He's vunerable from behind. If I can get behind him I can shoot him with the charge. Hopefully it will knock him off his feet long enough for me to finish him off. _She realized her mistake. _Oops. Right. I can't kill him. I was only paid to retrieve him. But he's proving hard enough to even do that. If I do wind up killing him it will be his own fault. _

Starscream noticed some movement out of the corner of his left optic and turned his head. In the waning sunlight he spotted the Hunter running off to the left. He turned and fired at her only then realizing that the power in his guns was almost at zero. "Slag," he growled, glaring at the blinking screen. "I should have been more careful." He'd been so into what he was doing he'd forgotten his promise to himself to be conserve energy.

Sam glanced up at him, she saw his arms raised but he wasn't firing. _Why isn't he firing at me? Is he out of amo? _If he was that gave her a chance to retaliate.

Running up the sand dune she used it as a spring board when she reached the top and jumped into the air. Starscream turned to keep her in view and saw her raise off the ground, her arm cannon aimed at him. She fired. The jet saw a giant ball of energy come flying toward him and, knowing he didn't have time to move, put up his arms to protect himself. The blast hit his arms and pushed him backward. Sand piled up behind his feet as the blast pushed him back but he remained standing, though the pain was almost overbearing. He wasn't going to be beaten by the hunter this time. He clenched his teeth and took it all in without screaming. He'd done enough of that in his life already.

After a minuted the energy blast suddenly shattered and dispersed, flying in all directions and hitting the ground in harmless little particles. The hunter landed on all fours on the ground and looked up at Starscream. He was still standing but his arms had long cracks spidering though them. She cursed under her breath, disappointed at the minimal damage and angry. _How?_

The Decepticon air commander lowered his arms and looked down at them. Aside from the spidery cracks they looked okay and they still functioned, though they hurt like the pit. he hoped he'd never have to do something like that again. He looked down at the hunter who was getting up and looked ready to fire at him again. "Is that the best you can do?" he taunted her.

She lifted her head. The tone in his voice told her he was up to something.

He laughed. "My turn now," he said. Suddenly his chest compartment opened and a dozen large missiles blasted out of it.

Sam's eyes grew wide in surprise. She hadn't known he could do _that_! She quickly dived out of the way as the projectiles hit the ground around her and exploded. Sand and stones rained around her as she dodged more of the missiles and tried to get out of range.

_Silverblade told me Starscream only had guns on his arms! _she thought, angrily, trying her best to avoid being killed and change the settings on her arm cannon so she could retaliate when she got the chance at the same time. _He never mentioned chest missiles! Makes me wonder what __**else **__he didn't tell me about his prodical son. _She dodged another missile and tripped, her hand hitting the fire button on her arm as she fell.

A beam of ice blue energy shot at Starscream from a crazy angle and hit his arm, the energy crystalizing on his damaged lower arm and spreading over the entire limb. The jet stopped firing at her and stared at his frozen limb, his mouth hanging open. "What the-?!"

Sam noticed he was distracted by the ice caking his arm and scrambled to her feet, her mind already working with her new strategy. When she'd programed the ice option into her arms weaponry function she hadn't though she'd need it but had added it anyway for precautionary reasons. Now she was glad she had done so. _Okay, now let's immobilize this prize, _she thought, walking toward the still distracted jet, her fingers rising the power level on her arm. This time when she got hit he wouldn't just get one limb covered.

Starscream sensed her approach and lifted his head, the frozen limb forgotten for a moment. He saw the hunter walking toward him, a purpose in it's steps. He stepped back, realizing what had happened and what this smaller figure intended to do again. The urge to run pounded in his mind as the old cowardly nature once again began to take over his thinking. Acting on his old nature he turned but, before he could even take a step, another blue energy beam was shot at him and his leg. Ice grew from the point of impact near his ankle and crept up and down his entire leg, freezing it and making it unusable. He stumbled and fell.He felt the ice slowly rising up his body and turned himself over, his optics focusing in horror at the creeping ice. The Hunter was still coming toward him, her arm raised and ready to fire on him again.

"You won't be getting away from me this time, Decepticon," she said.

The air commander pushed himself backward, using his unfrozen arm and leg. This hunter was much smaller than him yet he was afraid of it. "Stay back!" he screeched, raising his arm and aiming the null gun at her.

Sam stopped. He was aiming at her face with that thing. She raised her own gun and shot at it before he could use it on her again. Ice crept up the weapon and spread to his other arm. He stared at the ice then looked back at the hunter. She was aiming at his face now, her intentions clear.

"No!" he screamed.

Seconds before she would have fired a loud noise filled the air and a blast of pinkish energy hit the hunter from behind. Pain shot through her and she was send flying over Starscream's head and into the ground behind him. He watched her course and flinched when she hit the ground hard.

"I was right," a raspy voice said. "It was you."

Starscream turned his gaze away from the Hunter's body and toward the voice. Not too far away he spotted the gray figure of his superior, just lowering his fusion canon. "Megatron!"

_A/N_

_These chapter just keep getting longer and longer. I had to force myself to finish this chapter because it was driving me crazy. I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know, okay? _


	11. Chapter 11

CHAPTER 10

Megatron stepped toward the half frozen Starscream. From the look on his face the jet knew his superior wasn't happy about having to save his rear. The air commander said nothing. There was no way he'd be able to explain himself. He heard laughter and looked past Megatron. A few yards behind the gray mech stood Thundercracker and Skywarp. Thundercracker was looking at him without expression but Skywarp was laughing his head off and pointing at the red, white, and blue jet.

"Wow, Starscream, you give new meaning to the term frozen in fear!" the black and purple jet joked, holding his stomach nearly doubled over. "Hahahahaaaa!"

Mgetron looked over his shoulder and gave Skywarp a testy look. "Be quiet, Skywarp!" he ordered.

The jet shut up.

Megatron stood over Starscream who looked up at him without saying a word. There was nothing to say. Starscream couldn't explain himself anyway. "I don't want to know what this is about, at least not now," Megatron said, putting his hands on his hips. "You'd probably lie to me anyway."

The jet looked away, saying nothing. Megatron expected as much. He turned his attention on Starscream's frozen limbs. Lowering the power on his cannon he shot the ice, melting it off the air commander. "But you _do _owe me an explanation."

Thundercracker, ignoring Starscream, stepped around them, his optics glued on the thing Megatron had shot. He reached down and picked the Hunter up by the arm, lifting the limp metal figure up to his face for a better look. _**This**__ was shooting at him? _

Suddenly Skywarp was beside him, the black and purple jet leaned toward the limp from dangling from Thundercracker's fingers. "What's that?" he asked. He poked her with his finger and her body swung back and forth. "It's not moving. Do you think it's dead?"

"Stop that," Thundercracker said when his friend poked the hunter again."This is not a toy."

"But I want to know what it is," Skywarp said, looking up at the gray and blue jet.

"What does it look like?" the other jet demanded.

Skywarp looked at her again. "I don't know. A robot?"

Megatron looked up from what he was doing and stared at the small robotic figure Thundercracker was holding. _Whatever that thing is it was powerful enough to take down Starscream, _he smirked. _Not that that's too hard to do. _"Let me see that," he ordered.

Thundercracker brought the Hunter over to his superior. Megatron put out his hand and he set her in it. The gray mech turned her over so he could see the Hunter's face. It was covered with a helmet with a green face vizor. For all Megatron knew_ that _could be its face. "Hmmm..."

"What is it?" Thundercracker asked.

The gray Decepticon flipped it over again then closed his fist around it. "I don't know," he said. "We'll take it back to the base. Soundwave can run a scan over it and see what it's made of."

The two jets nodded and Skywarp asked. "What are we going to do about Starscream?"

Megatron met the other jet's optics. "I don't trust him with you," he told them. "Not after that little stunt you pulled with his wing."

"But we weren't-" Skywarp began

Megatorn cut him off, pointing at the sky, impatiently. "Go on ahead," he ordered. "I'll bring him back myself."

The other jets nodded and flew away, transforming into vehicle mode as they did. Megatron, with the hunter's body still enclosed in his fist, reached down and grabbed Starscream's arm. He pulled the air commander to his feet. Starscream tried standing on his own but his legs felt numb from the ice that had gotten into their circitry and he nearly fell over. Luckily Megatron's grip on his arm kept him from doing so. The gray Decepticon yanked on it and brought him into a standing position again. He draped the air commander's arm over his shoulders and rose into the air.  
"When we get back to the base you'd better have a good explanation for what happened," Megatron said to him again. "Because I want one."

Starscream looked away and said nothing. Right now he couldn't say anything. Right now all he cared about was getting repaired, but he couldn't help thinking. _He sounds like my father when he says that..._

* * *

_Cybertron's second moon. Past._

Silverblade stood in front of Starscream with his arms folded. The younger robot had his hands behind his back and his optics wondered to every place except his creator's face. He didn't like seeing Silverblade when he was angry and knew better than to meet his optics anyway. Too bad for him Silverblade _wanted_ him tomeet his gaze. "Look at me," the older mech finally commanded.

Starscream lifted his head and met his creator's optics. Silverblade glared at him, disappointment clrea in his features. "You had better have a good explanation for what happened," he said, his voice impatient. "and don't even think of lying to me. It's bad enough you're always messing up things but sneaking to Cybertron?! What were you_ thinking_?"

Starscream tried to speak. "I-"

Silverblade waved him off. "I don't need your excuses. Starscream," he said. "You're lucky Skyfire saw you and brought you back before anything could happen to you. I have enough to worry about without you sneaking off like that. Why can't you be more like the others?"

_Because I'm not like the others, _he thought and wanted to say. _I'm me. _

Silverblade paced for a moment, lecturing the younger mech the whole time. "I warned you many times that Cybertron is a dangerous place for Neutrals to be hanging out by themslves and yet you keep on trying to get there. I told you, if you want to go you can come with me the next time I go."

"But you hardly ever go," Starscream blurted without thinking. "and when you do you always take somebody else!"

His creator glared at him. "I take others because you always do something to make me _not_ want to take you," Silverblade snapped, his voice more cutting than he meant it to be."Like what you did today. Why should I take somebody that likes to disobey orders? That just shows me that you're irresponsible and would likely wonder off on me if I told you to stay close." he unfolded his arms and walked over to his creation who had looked away. "Now don't be that way. I'm just looking out for you. I don't want anything to happen to you but it's going to if you keep disobeying me."

"I just wanted to see what it was like down there," Starscream said in a small voice.

Silverblade sighed. This was his own fault. He should never have taken Starscream to the planet in the first place. Now the younger mech wanted to see more of it. _Even a taste is not wise...because then they just want more! _

He put a hand on the younger mech's shoulder. "Starscream look at me," he said. When he did so the older mech said, in a soothing voice. "I have reasons for not letting you go again. Aside from you constantly depriving yourself of that privilage there are many many reasons why you should stay here."

"Like what?" Starscream asked, his voice not disrespectful. He really wanted to know.

"Like staying here will keep you from being harmed," Silverblade explained. 'There are many down there that would take advantage of you in more ways than one. They could beat you, take out your spark and crush it while you're forced to watch, and kill you in that order without giving it a second thought. Or they could do something else. Something a lot more painful." he looked right into his creations red optics and said. "I don't want the same thing that happened to Renagade to happen to you."

Starscream remembered the fate of Renagade. Renagade was his older brother so to speak. The older mech was fearless, strong, and over confident. He'd gone to Cybertron by himself to prove to his creator that everything would be fine. He'd also promised to come back soon. Weeks had gone by and he hadn't returned. Silverblade had grown frantic and eventually went to Cybertron himself to look for him. When he'd returned he'd been carrying what was left of Renegade's formerly perfect body.

"I understand," Starscream said, shivering at the memory. "I am sorry. I won't do it again."

Silverblade looked relieved. He pulled Starscream toward him and hugged him. "That's all I ask for."

* * *

"Starscream!" Megatron's voice brought Starscream back to reality. He turned his head toward his superior. The gray mech was looking at him impatiently. "Have you even heard a word I said?" he demanded.

"I.." was all Starscream could say. He couldn't really tell Megatron that he _hadn't_ been paying attention because then the mech would just get mad at him and scold him and make him feel even worse. Instead he tried to sound like he had heard him. "What was your last question again?"

"I asked you why you didn't contact the base?" Megatron said, giving him a look. "If you were in this much trouble why didn't you report in?"

"I tried," Starscream told him. "My comlink is broken."

"Oh." well that explained things. But then again he had said something earlier about running into trouble. Megatron had though it was just the usual over reacting, though he had sent Skywarp and Thundercracker to assist him anyway so the Decepticon would stop whining. He sighed. "When it was working and you contacted the base you should have been more specific with your problem."

"Would you have believed me if I had?"

Megatron knew that answer. No he would not have. He would have thought Starscream was being dramatic and the situation wasn't as serious as he said it was. "We'll discuss this further when we get back to the base and you're repaired," he said after a moment of silence. "Then you _will _tell me everything."

* * *

"I'm telling you, Prime, we should have sent somebody to watch her," Ironhide was saying to Optimus. "She said she was paid to capture Starscream for somebody and she's likely to go after him again."

Optimus looked at him. "She told us not to interfere," he told the other mech. "We have to respect her wishes."

"If that's true why did you send Mirage to spy on her?" Ironhide wanted to know.

Prime didn't answer. At that moment the blue and white Ford rode into the Ark and stopped in front of the two other robots. He transformed and looked up at Prime. "What happened?" Prime asked.

Mirage looked nervous as he related what he had seen. "That hunter went after Starscream again like she said she would," he replied. "She got into it wtht him and for awhile it seemed she wasn't doing much good. He had her running in circles." he folded his arms. 'Then she uses some kind of ice beam on him that freeze his limbs-"

"Wait!" Ironhide cut him off. "An Ice beam?"

"That what it looked like," Mirage told him. "Anyway she shoots him in three places with it and has him completely imobilized. just before she gets to finish him off Megatron and his cronies sneak up from behind and blast her."

Optimus stared at him. "Megatron shot her?" he asked.

Mirage nodded. "But, from what I saw, her powersuit is still intact so maybe she is still alive."

Optimus shook his head, turning away from the blue and white bot. "I knew this would happen," he said.

"There's something else," Mirage went on.

Prime looked back at the shorter mech. "When Megatron left with Starscream he took the woman with him." he met Optimus' optics. "What are we going to do?"

"Nothing," the Autobot leader replied. He noticed the looks on their faces. "If Megatron took her to their base there is nothing we can do to help her."

* * *

Megatron took it upon himself to repair Starscream. He didn't trust Thundercracker and Skywarp with it anymore and he had some questions he needed to ask him anyway. After he'd handed the Hunter over to Soundwave with specific instructions he lugged the half limp air commander to the repair bay. So far Starscream had said little to nothing which was a surprise and a not so unwelcome change, but that would change soon enough. Megatron made sure nobody else was in the repair bay. He wanted to talk to Starscream alone and he figured the jet would be more comfortable with a one on one, not that that was possible. This was Starscream. Starscream and him didn't really get along, not after that incident so long ago when Megatron found out the jet's true intentions for the very first time...

"Now, Starscream," Megatron said, picking up some tools. "Why don't you tell me about your little encounter with that thing I shot down."

Starscream wouldn't even look at him. The jet kept his mouth shut and didn't make a sound. Fianly he said, his voice still sounding sarcastic and disrespectful, even in his weakened state. "What importance is it to _you_, Mighty Megatron?"

Megatron was running low on patience and was getting tired of Starsceram's attitude. He set the tools down and walked over to his second in command, grabbing his head and forcibly turning it toward him. "You have stone walled long enough and I don't have time for anymore of your childish games," he said, locking optics with the other Decepticon. "I want to know why that thing was after you and you had better have a good answer."

Starscream put his hand on Megatron's arm and tried to yank it free. It was bad enough he'd been thrashed twice by a bounty hunter no bigger than a human but now Megatron was going to do it. He couldn't tell Megatron the truth anyway, because he wasn't sure if he was even right! "I don't know why it was after me," he said only half honest because of his hunch. "I have never even seen this person before last night."

Megatron wasn't buying it. "You're lying," he growled, shoving down on the jet's neck. Starscream grunted as he fell back onto the table. "I think you know something about this person and you're not telling me."

"I don't know anything," the jet gasped, now using both hands to try to pry his superior's hand loose. "I'm telling the truth!"

"Then why in Vector Sigma would it be after you?" the gray mech growled, leaning over him.

Starscream thought fast, not wanting Megatron to pummle his already heavily damaged body until he recieved the answer he wanted, and shouted. "Maybe they were paid to do it!"

Megatron leaned closer, invading Starscream's personal space even more and making him sqiurm uncomfortably. Now he was getting somewhere. "Why would somebody pay a hunter to come after _you_?" he demanded.

That part Starscream wasn't about to say. He had never told Megatron about his problems with his creator even at the beginning. He had always said he had something to prove but didn't specifie to who and why. He still wasn't about to tell, even if Megatron decided to beat him to a slag heap. "I don't know," he replied. "Maybe the Autobots were behind it? Maybe they think capturing me will get to you."

"If the Autobots wanted to capture you they wouldn't need to hire a hunter to do it," Megatron snapped. "Tell the truteh or your wing won't be the _only_ thing ripped in half."

"That is the truth!" Starscream shouted in desperation, wanting Megatron to just let him go and get _off_. "I don't know! I can only guess because I honestly don't know! There is nothing esle I can think of besides that!" and then he closed his mouth and said no more, lest he give away his own theory.

Megatron waited but Starscream refused to say anything else. For a moment the gray mech considered getting him to say more the old fasion way but changed his mind. He let the jet go and moved away from him, turning his back on his second in command. "It doesn't matter anyway," he told him. "What I can't learn from you I can learn from _him_."

Starscream, his hand on his neck, sat up instantly. "Him?" he asked, his voice cracking.

Megatron turned back to him, a blow torch in his hand. "You're little sparring buddy," he said, before grabbing Starscream's wing and yanking it toward him. "I brought him back with us. Now hold still."

Starscream yanked away from him and stared at him with horror filled optics. "You brought that_ thing _here?!" he exclaimed. "Why would you do such a thing?"

Megatron gave him an impatient look. "That is no concern of yours," he said yanking him around again.

Starscream once again pulled away. "It does_ too _concern me!" he shouted. "That_ thing _tried to kill me, _twice_! How could you even think of bringing it here?!"

The gray mech regarded him coldly. "I have reasons," he told the jet. "Ones that _you _should not be concerned about." he took hold of Starscream's wing once again and started working on it. "I can assure you, Starscream, that it won't come after you."

* * *

Soundwave set the Hunter's body under a scanner and sat down in front of the large computer in the control room. He tapped out some commands and let the computer run a scan of the hunter's entire body. Since the thing was so small it wouldn't take long. He waited, staring at the screen as an X-Ray like image slowly pixalated itself onto the screen. He leaned forward, his optics taking in every detail as is came.

When the image reached total clarity the blue Decepticon stared at the image with his usual blank expression but his mind was already running. What he saw surprised him because it hadn't been what he had been expecting to see and he knew Megatron would want to know about it. At the moment his superior was repairing Starscream so he wouldn't have access to a screen. No matter Soundwave could contact him and so he did.

* * *

Megatron had just finished properly repairing Starscream's wing when Soundwave's voice entered his Audio receptors."Megatron." Pausing, he pressed the flashing light on his chest. "What is it Soundwave?" he asked.

"Megatron," Soundwave's emotionless voice said. "Scanning complete. Strange readout shown."

Megatron stopped what he was doing, startled by the answer. "What do you mean strange readout?" he demanded.

"Unable to explain," Soundwave replied. "Must be shown. Urgency level. Ten."

"Fine," the Decepticon leader said, sighing. "I'll be right there." He cut the connection and looked up. Starscream was staring at him, his optics curious.

"What was that about?" he wanted to know.

"That does not concern you," Megatron said, stepping away from the repair table. He threw the tool he'd been holding at Starscream who caught it before it hit him in the face. "You will have to finish your repairs yourself. I have something I need to do."

Before Starscream could ask what that was the gray mech stepped out of the room. Starscream watched him go then started on the damage to his left arm. "and I know exactly what that is..."

_A/N_

_None of the flashbacks are in chronological order. I hope that won't bother you. When I think back on things it's not usually in the order of how it really happened either so it's not so weird. If you want to know Starscream had about six siblings in this story at least. Yes Mirage is acting OOC. I couldn't remember his persona very well. Sorry about that. I also apologize for the weirdness of this chapter. My brain was half way in the Transformers Animated Universe near the end. That incident I mentioned will be explained later. Whether they're in character or not I could hear their voices in my head whenever I made them saying stuff which is really weird. All well. I hope it made some sense._


	12. Chapter 12

CHAPTER 11

"What is you conclusion. Megatron?" Soundwave asked, turning from the screen to look at his superior.

Megatron didn't even look at the other mech. He kept his optics fixed on the screen, not sure what he should make of the X-ray of the Hunter. He had no expected the hunter to look like_ that _inside! _Starscream was almost beaten by __**that?! **__What kind of creature is this?_

"Megatron?"

He looked at Soundwave. "This tells me more than I need to know," he told the other mech. "It proves that my guess was almost completely accurate. That planet might be gone but remnants remain and this Hunter is proof." he put his chin in his hand as he said, thoughtfully. "But why was it after Starscream?"

Soundwave had no explanations either so he said nothing. He just turned his attention back to the screen and stared at the image, studying the figure inside the suit. It was hard to believe such a thing could have done any damage to Starscream. Soundwave knew little to nothing about the planet Zebes or the metal or history or anything else about the planet other than that it had been destroyed a few years ago. The explosion had never been explained and they never found out the reason for it. As for the type of metals it had... they had been rumored to be very durable. This Hunter's powersuit was proof of that.

* * *

Starscream finished up his repairs and stepped out of the repair bay. He looked both ways, making sure nobody else was around then headed down the hall. All he wanted to do was go to his room, lock the door, and settle down for a long recharge. Hopefully he wouldn't encounter anybody on the way there. If he did they would want to talk or laugh at him about the whole incident, because it was likely all the Decepticons in the base had heard about his encounter with the bounty hunter. He wasn't up to discussing it with anybody and didn't need anybody laughing at him about it. It was none of their business.

He walked past the control room, noticing Megatron and Soundwave standing in front of the main console, staring up at an image on the giant screen. He stopped walking and turned his head, staring at the wire image. _What is that? _

"What is your command, Megatron?" Soundwave asked after a moment.

Megatron turned his head. "There's nothing we can do about it now," he said to the blue mech. "We can try to revive it but things like these come around on their own. Until then we'll keep an eye on it and make sure that when it _does_ wake up we know right away." he turned toward the exit. "You stay here and watch it. If it moves even a fraction let me know."

Starscream saw his leader coming and, not wanting to be seen, moved away from the entrance and quickly down the hall. He rounded a corner and peeked out. Megatron was heading in the opposite direction and obviously hadn't seen the jet. The seeker sighed in relief then continued on his previous trek, glad that he wouldn't have to talk to Megatron further. He stepped into his room and let the door close behind him.

After locking the door so no unwanted guests could come in and bother him, he turned off the lights he walked over to the recharge berth and lay down. He didn't realize how tired he was until he was lying down. As he slipped into stasis he thought about the day he'd gone to join the ranks of the Decepticons...Things had been so different between him and his superior back then.

* * *

_Past Cybertron. Decepticon Headquarters. _

The young mech's optics flared to full brightness as he regained his senses. A bright light shone in his eyes and he groaned, raising a hand to deflect the beam.

"So you've finally come back online," said a voice, startling him.

Starscream's body jumped and he lowered his arm, his optics scanning the room. Across the room, sitting in a chair by a giant computer console was the mech that he had followed into that Energon bar and who had wound up saving his life. When the mech saw him staring he stood and walked over to the other mech, his hands behind his back and his optics dimmed slightly.

"Where am I?" Starscream asked, looking around himself. To him it looked like he was in some kind of lab/computer room/med bay.

"Decepticon headquarters," the other mech replied, then added. "Well temporary Decepticon headquarters."

The younger mech stared at him, open mouthed. "I'm in Decepticon headquarters?" he asked.

"Well temporary," the mech repeated. "We are currently having another base under construction."

"Oh." the jet said, looking around himself again. Then he thought of something and his hand flew to his face. It felt smooth and undamaged. "Did you repair me?"

The older mecha nodded then grabbed a nearby chair and sat down in it as he said. "Yes I did," he replied. "Though I wasn't sure you'd ever come back online again, you took a rather brutal beating." he leaned forward, his optics probing. "That was a very brave and foolish thing you did earlier, coming into a bar that clearly was full of only Decepticons. Why don't you explain to me why you did it."

Starscream looked away. "I thought I told you already," he said.

"You said you had something to prove and that was it," the Decepticon replied. "Why don't you explain what you meant and why that would make you want to come striding so foolishly into buildings full of Decepticons?"

Starscream didn't look at the mech as he said. "There is somebody who once told me I could never be anything," he replied. "I want to prove to them that I can become something." his hands balled into fists and he said in a determind voice. "I will show them that I will be more than just a nobody! I will be the greatest Decepticon there ever was!" then he looked self cautiously at the mech, his optics revieling that he thought he might have said the wrong thing to the wrong person. "After the actual leader that is," he added, looking embarrassed. "If you see him please don't tell him I said that. He might think I'm trying to replace him or something."

The gray mech gave him a half smile. "I'm sure he knows you aren't trying to do that," he told him. "Because if you were he'd deal with you quickly and wouldn't think twice about it."

Starscream's face scrunched up with fear, his mind thinking up horrible tortures, like being tied to the thrusters of a starship and feeling his body melting as the ship powered up and covered him in heat. He put up his hands, noticing they were shaking. It was not a pleasant thought. "H-he's got nothing to worry about," he said quickly even though he was only lying to the mecha and himself.

The other mech smiled at him. The jet noticed the smile looked cold. "Good," the mech said. "because if he did-" and here he raised his right arm, the gray cannon attached to it powering up as he put the weapon into Starscream's face. "He would deal with that problem right away."

Starscream ground his teeth together, leaning his face away from the gun as he saw it lighting up with a pink glow. He immediately felt that urge to flee rising up inside him as fear entered his mind, scrambling his thinking. He opened his mouth to say something but no words came out. The sound in the gun got louder and his body instinctly pulled him to the side and to the floor as the gun went off. He hit the floor with a clang then rolled himself over, his optics focusing on the spot where he'd been sitting. The table he'd been sitting on was now a smoking charged piece of slag as was the wall behind it. His optics focused on the older mech who stared back at him coldly. He had no idea what had just happened and couldn't process it.

Starscream's mouth hung open and he felt his entire body beginning to shake as the other bot stood up and aimed that gun at him again. He lived up to his name as a shrill scream escaped his vocabulator as he twisted away when the gun went off again. The blast hit the floor where he'd been only a second ago. He forced himself to stand, then dash out of the way as he was fired upon again. One blast hit his leg and send pain coursing through his body. He stumbled but didn't fall. He didn't want to fall again. He turned his head, his optics focusing on the gray mech who followed his every move with that cannon. He didn't know why the mech was firing at him but he couldn't let him blow him to slag.

_I have to get that gun away from him! _he thought. _If I can get close enough grab it maybe I can-_

Another blast hit his right wing and he cried out staggering again but not falling. He ground his teeth then turned toward the other mech. Pushing aside his fear, he pushed off with right foot and rocketed at the mech, his body slamming into his chest and his hands grabbing the arm with the cannon and forcing it up and away.

The other mech's eyes filled with surprise as the two flew across the room for a few seconds then slammed into the floor, skidding across the metal and smacking into the wall. Starscream almost lost his grip on the mech's arm but he held on tight even after the momentum threw him over the mechs head and into the wall, cracking it.

Then there was silence..

For a moment neither bot moved. Starscream's whole body shook with the realization of what he had just done, but he did not loosen his grip on the other mech's gun arm even after he felt the other mech getting up. He felt the gray mech put out his hand on his back and he flinched then fored himself to lift his head, turn it, and meet the Decepticon's blood red optics. His face held a strange unreadable expression. The younger mech didn't know what to make of it. He just hoped the gray mech wouldn't try to kill him again.

The mech shoved Starscream over so his whole body faced him. The younger mech still had a death grip on the cannon arm but that didn't last long. The mech pried his hands loose then grabbed his arm, standing him up when he stood. For a moment the two stood there staring at each other, saying not a word. It reminded the jet of the times his creator scolded him. He'd let him think about what he had done for a moment before either would say anything. He felt like he was about to get some kind of sever punishment or lecture for what he had done but, how could he be blamed for his action? One minute the older mech was acting friendly the next he was shooting at him. _But why did he do such a thing? Was it something I said? It must be for what I said about being the greatest Decepticon there ever was. Me and my big mouth!_

Finally, after a significent amount of time had passed, the other mech spoke. "Nobody has ever done something like that to me before."

"W-what?" Starscream asked, his voice quivering though he tried his best to control it.

"Nobody has ever grabbed my arm before while I was shooting at them," he said, raising his arm and gesturing at it. "Usually they are knocked offline before they even get the chance."

Starscream didn't know what to say to that so he said nothing, getting the feeling the older mech was driving at something. What he didn't know yet but he'd find out soon. He just hoped it was something that would be in his favor.

The mech put his hand on the jet's shoulder and he flinched, half expecting that hand to move to his throat. "You have very good reflexes," the bot said, looking like he was about to smile.

"Th-thank you," the jet said, still nervous. He had to ask. "Why did you shoot at me?"

The older mech gave him another cold smile. "To make sure you knew who was in charge," he replied.

Starscream stared at him. "You," he gasped, figuring it out, and pointing a finger. "You, are you?"

The gray mech nodded. "I am Megatron," he replied. "Leader of the Decepticons." He moved his hand away from the jet who tried not to flinch again. "And now that you know why don't I show you around?"

* * *

Sam was finally coming around. The first thing she was aware of was pain. Pain in her entire body but worse in two places. Her head felt like it was being stomped on and her back felt the same way. She moaned and opened her eyes only to shut them again because of the bright light shining in her face. She turned her head sideways and opened them again, her vision blurred and shaky. It looked like she was on the ocean in the middle of a storm, everything was moving all over the place. She closed her eyes again, waited, and opened them once more.

Her vision was a bit clearer and the shaking had slowed down. Now she could see she was in some kind of lab, or control room. For a moment she thought she was in the Autobot's base again but she remembered it had looked different. This place was a bit darker and the computer console and screen looked much bigger. _If I'm not in the Autobot's base where am I? _

Her eyes scanned the room for a moment then came to a stop on a blue figure near the computer with its back to her. For the moment it didn't seem to be paying any attention to her. Something told her not to try to get the things attention.

Instead she tried to get up as quietly as she could but, when she did, her back punished her for the idea. She sighed and lay back down. She hoped she hadn't broken anything. _This is just __**perfect**__! _she thought, disgusted. _Not only have I not gotten what I came all this way for but now I can't even move without hurting myself. _She ground her teeth together. _I hope it's not serious. _She clenched a fist, relieved to feel no pain when she did so. Yeah maybe it wasn't serious. Maybe it would pass if she rested for a little longer. Her vision seemed to be returning to normal too but it wouldn't do her much good if she couldn't move.

She turned her head back toward the tall blue figure. His back was still turned to her but he seemed to have moved from his former spot. He was now standing on the other side of the control panel and seemed to be looking up at the giant screen. She lifted her eyes to get a good look at the screen. All she saw on it was a wireframe of something.

_What in the world is that? _

Finally the figure, seemingly finished with what it was doing, turned around. Now she could see that it was another robot. This one was mostly dark blue and white. He had some kind of weird window on his chest and his optics were hidden behind what looked like a pair of red sunglasses. She could see no mouth of any kind unless it was under the face plate below the optics. From all the bots she'd seen so far this one looked totally emotionless.

And he was staring at her, or looked like he was anyway. She stared right back, not about to be intimidated by him though his face made her nervous. This could could be thinking anything and she wouldn't be able to tell.

The robot walked toward her, never taking his covered optics off her, though she couldn't be sure if he was even looking at her face because her visor was still covering it. It stopped in front of her then reached out its hand and poked her slightly with its finger. She almost rolled over. The robot poked her again. She raised a hand to swat it away. When she did so he put his hand back at his side, seemingly satisfied that she had reacted.

"Subject online," it said, its voice a mechanical monotone.

_This can't be good. _

* * *

Megatron had gone looking for Starscream. When he hadn't found him where he had left him he had taken a guess on where he would be and headed to the seeker's room. Starscream had probably gone there to pout or to escape being questioned by Megatron further. The mech knew his second in command was hiding something, he just didn't know what.

_Starscream has never been honest with me not even at the beginning, _he thought. _Of course he told me he wanted to be the greatest Decepticon there ever was and that was honest... I had had my suspicions about him even then. Maybe that's why I shot at him. I told him then that I wanted him to know who was in charge and I thought he got it. _He smiled bitterly to himself. _It wasn't until later that I found out his true intentions. Maybe I should have just killed him then. _He could have but he hadn't. Back then Starscream had had his respect, at least for a little while. He had been the first mech that had ever grabbed Megatron's gun while being fired at. At the time Megatron had blamed Starscream's strange actions on the fact that he was young, inexperienced, a bit nervous, and ambitious. It had not seemed like anything to worry about until that day.. the day he had made his first mistake by trusting him a little too much...

* * *

Starscream had just gotten the rank of second in command. He felt he deserved it, though some of the other Decepticons questioned that, including Blitzwing, the one who had beaten him up that fateful day in the bar. There had been a lot of grumbling and bickering but Megatron had told them to shut up and stop complaining. "He has earned his rank," Megatron had told the others. "Maybe if you were a bit more like him one of you would have gained it instead."

The others started to argue but he shouted for silence, told them off, and headed into the control room of the new base. Starscream had turned his head long enough to smirk at them then followed the gray mech inside. By then Starscream was nothing like he had been the first day he was taken in. He'd grown up a lot and seemed to have gained some self confidence, maybe a little too much self confidence but he didn't act shy or timid anymore.

Skywarp, one of the seekers under his command, called him a loud mouthed egomaniac in front of him and gave him the nickname "Screamer" because of how shrieky his voice was. When he had first called the other seeker by that name Starscream had thrown a fit and shouted at him not to say such a thing again, even though his voice didn't help him because it just got more high pitched when he was upset. Because of that Skywarp had kept on using the nickname because he knew how much his commanding officer didn't like it. Of course the nickname had spread but it wasn't used often unless Starscream started acting big headed, which he luckily didn't do all the time. In some Decepticons minds Starscream's head had grown too big for his body.

Megatron had noticed this too but hadn't said anything about it since Starscream didn't seem to be doing anything more than showing off his rank. Of course some of the time he acted as if he himself was the leader, but not when Megatron was looking. Only when he was somewhere else. Of course the others didn't respect him anyway and ratted him out to Megatron a lot though the gray mech couldn't believe this unless he saw it himself.

Still... he had had Soundwave keep an close eye on the young mech.

A few days later Megatron decided to make sure his new second in command would not be a problem or a worry. "Starscream," he said, stepping into the seeker's room.

"Yes, sir?" Starscream asked looking up.

"I am going to check something," he said. "The Autobots seem to have been trying to sneak into our territory. I am going to check this out myself and I want you to come with me."

Starscream was on his feet in an instant. "I'm right behind you," he said.

"Good," Megatron said, turning away from him. "Lets go."

Starscream followed him out of the base. A few minutes later they reached the said location and touched down behind the ruins of a building. Starscream walked past Megatron and peeked around the building. "I don't see any Autobots," he said. He turned back to Megatron. "Are you sure they are there?"

"They are there all right," the grey mech told him. "But you don't think they would want to be spotted that easily do you? They are there. They're just hiding."

"Or maybe you're imagining things," Starscream muttered. He stepped back and folded his arms. "Okay. You're the leader. If you say they are there they are there. But where?"

Megatron walked past him and aimed his cannon at the roof of the building across the street. "Right there," he said before firing.

The blast hit the roof and caved it in. Starscream heard shouting and screams as the whole thing came down on the people inside. "Let's go," he said, putting his hand on Starscream's arm before he ran toward the ruin. Starscream followed a few steps behind, looking a it nervous.

Megatron stopped when he reached the ruin and waited for any Autobot that might still be functional to climb out. When one finally did it found itself staring down the barrel of the Decepticon's fusion cannon. "Where is Prime?" Megatron demanded. "I know he came with you. Now tell me where he is."

"Right here," said a voice behind him.

Megatron turned around. Optimus Prime was standing on the roof the building that he and Starscream had been hiding behind. "I'm here to take back the energon you stole."

"Too late, Prime," Megatron said. "I already put it to good use." he raised his arm.

Optimus was the first one to fire. Megatron, not expecting Prime to react first, took the blast in the chest as was thrown off his feet and into the one remaining wall of the ruined building.

"Megatron!" Starscream exclaimed, staring at his superior.

Megatron got back up quickly, his arm covering a wound to his chest. He looked at Starscream who has his nullguns raised, but looked like he wasn't sure what to do. "FIRE AT PRIME!" Megatron shouted.

Starscream seemed to think that over a moment then turned his guns on Optimus. Prime jumped down from the roof and landed in front of Starscream. The seeker stared up at him open mouthed for a moment, his optics filling with fear. Before he could fire Optimus punched him in the face and sent his flying into the rubble of a building.

"Now it's just you and me, Megatron," Optimus said, turning and charging at the Decepticon.

Megatron raised his arm to fire but Prime's fist reached him first and sent him flying. He landed on his back but didn't stay there for very long. He got back up and grabbed the Autobot's fists when he swung them at him. Both mechs glared at each other. "Give up, Prime," Megatron growled. "There's no way you can defeat me."

Starscream fought his way out of the rubble and got up just in time to see the two fraction leaders locked in a test of strength. He stood back a moment, his processor coming up with advantages when he noticed the Autobot that had climbed out of the rubble of the other building sneaking up behind Megatron.

"Look out!" he exclaimed, raising his nullguns and firing.

Optimus and Megatron looked up when they heard him yell. Prime saw the seeker's arms raised and ducked. Since Starscream's aim was always a little off, the blasts hit Megatron and the Autobot behind him but missed Prime who took advantage of it to kick Megatron back and into the one and only blast the other Autobot was able to shoot off before being felled.

Prime ran past the damaged body of his mortal enemy and over to the Autobot that had taken half of Starscream's firepower. Draping the bots arm over his shoulder he ran off with him, leaving the Decepticon leader where he lay. Starscream fired at the two Autobots as he ran over to his damaged commander. He stopped when the Autobots out of range and looked down at his leader with mixed feelings.

"Let me help you," he said after a moment, reaching down and grabbing Megatron's arm. Imitating Prime he draped his commander's arm over his shoulder. "Let's head back to the base so you can get repaired."

Megatorn shot him a grateful look. "Thank you., Starscream."

Starscream 's only reply was a smirk.

The two walked slowly back to Decepticon headquarters. Megatron realized he'd been damaged more than he first thought but he was grateful that his second in command was there to help him, even if the seeker's smile made him nervous. _What's he thinking about? _

A short time later the two walked by an area of the street that had been broken in half, leaving a giant deep hole down the middle. Starscream led him to the hole and they stopped there. The jet stared down the hole, looking thoughtful. Megatron had no idea why they were there.

"What are we doing here?" he demanded, "This isn't anywhere _near_ the base!"

Starscream continued smirking at him as he removed his arm from around his shoulders. Megatron stared at the seeker, seeing a change in his expression. It no longer held the expression of a loyal soldier. "I hate to say it,_ mighty _Megatron," Starscream said, his voice filling with sarcasm. "But you are no longer needed."

"What?" the gray mech stared at him in disbelief.

"You hear me, oh fearless leader," the jet said, stepping away from him. "I'm through with taking orders from you. I'm taking over now."

Megatron's surprise instantly turned into rage. "You traitor!"

"Call me what you will," Starscream said. "But I am one thing you soon won't be."

"And what is that?"

Starscream's smirk turned into a sneer. "Dead!" and then he thrust out a hand and pushed the gray mech over the edge and into the hole.

"STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRSCREAAAAAAM!"

* * *

Megatron was brougth back to the present by an voice in his head. "Megatron. Megatron." it kept saying.

He turned on his comlink. "What is it Soundwave?" he asked.

"Subject online."

_A/N_

_Yeah most of this chapter was flashback but some things did manage to get done. I always pictured Megatron and Starscream's relasionship as a father/son thing. An abusive father/son thing but a parent to child relasionship none the less. Don't ask me why. It just seemed logical. Next chapter will dwell more on the present._


	13. Chapter 13

CHAPTER 12

Sam stared at Soundwave who stared right back at her without a word. She did not appreciate his blank stare because it made her feel like a specimin of some kind under a microscope. If it weren't for the fact that any sudden movements she made made her back hurt she might have shot him by now. Her current condition made that nearly impossible and she was annoyed at herself for even winding up in this predicament. It had seemed like such an easy job when she'd taken it. Go to the planet. Fine Target. Attack Target. Capture Target. Take Target to client. Get paid. How simple was that? Obviously simple was something these Decepticons didn't like very much. She had also learned that simple jobs wound up being complicated messes in time. Especially if a problem was allowed to get into things and places it shouldn't have been.

This whole job was becoming more complicated every second. She began to wonder if all of this was worth it. _I don't think it is, _she wound up thinking. _It shouldn't have been this complicated. Silverblade didn't even think I would take this long. _She ground her teeth together, the thought of her client angering her. _Why didn't he just come and get him himself? Is he so old that he can't even fly? That he can't even get off his big metal rear and go after his own son? and why did he wait so long to send anybody to find him anyway? _Well that last question could be answered simply. He had probably only just found his current location.

Yeah that was probably it.

However, that was the least of her problems. This giant blank faced mecha was making her nervous and didn't seem to have anything better to do than stare at her. If she had her way she would have blown his face in and got out of there but she couldn't do anything even if she tried. One swat from the giant hand would send her sailing across the room and into the wall. Even with her powersuit she was likely to be seriously injured for making such a foolish move. For now all she could do was wait him out. Hopefully he'd grow bored and go off and do something else.

Just then Megatron entered the room. "Soundwave," he said, making the other mecha finally take his gaze off the hunter. The blue mech beckoned the Decepticon Commander over. He joined him by the table.

Now Sam found herself staring up at two robotic faces neither of them looking the least bit friendly. She sensed a strange sort of curiosity and fascination coming from the gray one and wondered what he was thinking. She turned her head slightly and met his gaze without flinching. Because of the things she'd gone through her entire life he didn't intimadate her in the least., Decepticon or not.

Megatron noticed the movement. "So you were right," he said looking at the other mech.

"Affirmative."

"Now let's see what this creature will tell us," the mech said, looking back at her.

She saw him leaning forward and instinctly crawled backward, though her back punished her for it. The last thing she needed was for him loom over her and fill her vision. She raised her right arm, aiming the cannon on it at his face, a clear threat. He looked amused at her reaction.

"Don't even think of using that toy gun on me," he said, in a loud, raspy sounding voice. "Your power levels are low. It will do nothing to me."

She lowered her arm. She knew he was right. The power levels for her weapons were dangerously low. Mostly from using so much of it trying to capture Starscream. If the power got any lower her suit would open by itself and fall off of her. The last thing she needed was to lose her powersuit and become more vunerable. And the last thing she needed was for these bots to figure out she was a human.

She said nothing. Whatever he wanted she wasn't going to give him. Whatever questions he would ask he wouldn't get an answer either.

"Now," Megatron said, putting his hand on the table next to her body and leaning toward her. "Why don't you tell me why you're after Starscream?"

No answer. She glared at him, a challenge in her eyes. Though he could not see her face he could sense it in her posture. That was the last thing she was going to do.

"Even if you don't tell me willingly I know other ways to make you talk," he said, leaning even closer. He smirked and she frowned. "I've dealt with your kind before. If you don't want to go through unnessecary pain, you'll tell me before I am forced to make you."

_The last thing I'm going to do it tell you why, _she thought. More than just her agreement to not say a thing was keeping her from telling him. It was the fact that should she say a word about it it would just shorten her lifespan. She had learned enough about Decepticons to know that when they were given the information they wanted they wouldn't just let the informant go. No, it wasn't that simple. They would kill the informant. In the worst possible way.

She did not need anything like that. She had lived long anough to go through many diferent types of torture. Anything these Decepticons could dish out couldn't be any worse then what the Space pirates could. The only thing that bothered her was why did he even think it was that important and why was he smiling?

00000

Starscream woke feeling worse than he had when he'd gone offline. He had thought recharging would help him think clearer and see everything with a fresh prespective but it hadn't. It just made him realize that as long as that thing was in the base he wouldn't be safe. Plus he couldn't sleep very well. His mind had been full of images of his past. A past he would rather forget. He hated the hunter, blaming her for it. If she hadn't of come those memories wouldn't have risen up again to torment him. All those horrible images. He would rather forget everything and live as if he had always been the way he was but that wasn't any better than how he used to be. At least at one time in his life he knew how to care about someone and something.

For some reason his thoughts went to Silv. Silv had been one of his "sisters" She was younger than him by a few years and more naive. Though she was younger than him it seemed like she had more experience in life. Unlike Silverblade she thought her "brother" should do what he wanted. Though she'd often say she would never leave the moonlab in her entire life she told him that he should and he had. She'd also been right about never leaving the lab. She'd died before ever getting the chance. Or had she? Nobody had ever found her body and even if she hand't died he would never hear about it anyway.

He sighed and pressed the button to the door. It opened with a hiss and he stepped into the hallway. It was empty. Good.

He turned and walked down the hall. He hadn't gotten more than four steps when a voice behind him said. "So what did it feel like to be beaten by such a small creature?"

The air commander froze and slowly turned to look over his shoulder. He saw the purple light fading from Skywarp's dark frame as he came out of teleportation. The jet smiled at him in a mocking way. "What do you want?" Starscream asked, not wanting to talk to anybody, especially the black and purple seeker.

"I want you to answer my question," Skywarp said. "What does it look like, Screamer?"

Starscream was in no mood to deal with the stupid jet. All he wanted to do was to be left alone. Even if he had stayed in his room Skywarp would have been able to bother him anyway because of his teleporting ability. "Well you won't be getting an answer," Starscream said, turning away from him. "Now leave me alone. Why don't you go bother Thundercracker?"

Skywarp wasn't going to let him get away that easily. One minute he was behind his superior the next he was blocking his path. "T.C. is busy at the moment," he replied. "and I can't go to Cybertron. Thanks to you and your little encounter I was forced to change my plans. Do you know how femme's take being blown off? Not very well."

"I don't give a slag," Starscream said, annoyed. It was bad enough he'd been humiliated but now he was being accused of ruining Skywarp's love life? "You shouldn't be going out with them anyway."

Skywarp folded his arms. "Not all of us are wimps like you," he said. "If a femme wants to spend time with me I won't deny her that pleasure."

The air commander was getting sick of this conversation. The last thing he needed was to hear about Skywarp's latest exploits. "Why don't you tell this to somebody who cares?" he demanded.

"Because I'm telling you, princess," Skywarp replied. "and I will keep talking about it until you answer my question."

Starscream moved faster than the other jet expected. One minute he was facing away the next Starscream had him by the throat and against the wall. "You want an answer?" he hissed, his optics burning with anger and his voice a low rasp. "Then here it is. It feels like the worst kind of acid seeping into ones armor and melting it down to slag and if you ever say anything about it to anyone I will personally show you exactly what I mean!"

Skywarp stared at him. This side of Starscream he had never seen before. It was nothing like how he usually acted and for once his voice held absolutely no trace of that high pitched whine. Though he would never admit it to anybody, at that moment Skywarp was actually scared of him.

A moment pasted then Starscream finally let him go, his face still a mask of fury. Without another word, the air commander turned away and stalked down the hall.

00000000000

Sam's mind started working on solutions to her problem. These robots were likely going to try some other tactics if they didn't get the information they wanted. The big gray mech seemed intent on finding out why the hunter was after Starscream and he might do anything to get that information from her. Even use some kind of mind probe. For the moment she still couldn't move without pain coursing through her. She would have to come up with some other way to get out of this.

Megatron was getting impatient. This little hunter with the otherworldy firepower hadn't made a single sound since she'd been brought in. So far all he'd learned about her was from what Starscream had told him and what he'd seen on the X-Ray image. He couldn't be sure if that was really what the hunter looked like inside or just a security messure the suit itself created incase it was ever probed.

He reached out a hand and grabbed the hunter, picking her up off the table and bringing her up to his face. "I know what you look like in there," he told her, looking right at her visor. "and I know how to make it come off. All I have to do is press the right part and the whole thing will fall off you like worn out parts. Now if you don't want to lose your only form of protection you will tell me everything I want to know."

She let his words sink in, not sure how much of it she believed. How could this mech know anything about her or her powersuit? Did he know where she came from? Did he know who had built her suit for her? He might be lying but she couldn't be sure. He was an alien robot after all and if he'd come to a planet like Earth it would only be safe to assume that he had once gone to Zebes or heard about it. Even if he knew that much there was no way he would be able to figure out how her suit came on or off.

She allowed herself a smirk as she said. "I'd like to see you try it."

"So you _can_ talk," he said, smirking back at her. "and you're a real smart mouth." he raised his arm and aimed his cannon at her. "Let's see how smart you are after I blow a hole in your armor."

"You wouldn't dare do such a thing," she shot back. "If you did you wouldn't be able to get the information you want, now would you?"

He glared at her, knowing she was right. "True as that may be I don't see you giving out that information," he retorted.

"What would you do with it if I did?" she asked. "Surely it can't be _that_ important."

"It's important enough if it explains why somebody like you is after my second in command," Megatron snapped.

Sam laughed at that. "Second in command my behind," she said. "I've done some research on that. What kind of leader treats his second in command as his stress relieving punching bag?"

He tightened his grip on her body. 'The kind of leader that wants to make sure his second in command knows his place," he snarled.

"Why keep him as your second in command if he keeps on trying to betray you?"

Good question. Why had he let Starscream live for so long anyway? He thought back to the day he'd been betrayed. What had his reason been exactly?

000000000

_Past Cybertron. _

Megatron had fallen a great distance into the hole that Starscream had shoved him in. His body had been smacked around a few times as he fell which caused him to change position mulitple times. He plummeted head first until he smacked into something else and tumbled onto his side, finally hitting the bottom of the hole and smacking his head on something. For a moment he had blacked out.

When he regained conciousness he felt somebody's hand on him. He reached up and grabbed it, throwing the person to the ground. Then he stood over it, with his cannon aimed at it's face. Two horror filled purple optics stared up at him. He paused for a moment, taking in the unusual color. "Who are you?" he rasped.

"I am Silv," the owner of the purple optics replied.

"What were you doing?" he snapped.

"I was trying to repair you." it answered.

That's when he noticed some of the damage to his body was fixed. He looked back at the mech. "Why would you do something like that?"

The purple opticed mech slowly got to its feet, explaining, as Megatorn followed its movements with his fusion cannon. "Because I was programed to help anyobdy with damage."

"Then that makes you an Autobot," he replied.

"I am _not _an Autobot."

"Well you're clearly not a Decepticon,." he retorted.

"I am on neither side," the bot replied. "I should not even be on the planet to begin with."

"Why do you say that?"

The purpled opticed mech ignored the question and stepped forward. He then noticed that this mech was female, though her voice had made it hard to tell. She put out her hand, resting it on his arm and touching the damage. He watched her stare at it with a strange fascination. "I don't care what you do to me," she told him. "I don't have anybody left who will miss me anyway. Allow me to finish repairing you and then you can kill me if you want to. It makes no difference to me."

Megatron didn't know what to think of her strange behavior but he did let her repair him. When she was finished she stepped away from him and looked at him as if expecting something. "I'm done," she said. "Now decide what you're going to do."

He stood up and stared her down for a moment. He noticed how familair her body design was to somebody else he knew but didn't bother dwelling on it for long. Quit a few mechs had the same designs so it probably meant nothing. He turned from her. "There is nothing to decide," he told her. "Killing you would not do anything for me. If you want to die so badly do it yourself." Then he rose off the ground and flew back up through the hole in the road.

He headed straight to the Decepticon headquarters, his mind already coming up with ways to deal with the snot nosed mech whod' been using him all this time. _You will regret ever doing such a thing to me, Starscream, _he thought.

An hour later he touched down outside the Decepticon base. He stepped inside, instantly becoming aware of voices coming from the control room. "...it was Optimus Prime," he caught the end of a sentence. He paused a moment, listening. Starscream's shrieky voice had spoken the last sentence.

Another voice, maybe that of Blitzwing, said. "Megatron has tangled with Optimus Prime before. There's no way in the pit that that Autobot could kill him."

"Well that's what happened," Starscream's voice shot back, rising in pitch as he started losing his temper and patience. "Optimus shot him up into slag then threw his body into a huge hole in the ground. He's dead."

"You're lying," Rumble's voice cut him off. "Megatron can't be beaten that easily."

"Affirmative," Soundwave's voice came next. "Megatron is not dead."

"And how would you know that?" Starscream demanded, clearly angry.

Megatron decided that that would be a good time to show himself. "Because I am right _here_," he said, stepping into the room.

All optics turned to him. "I told you," Rumble said, smiling in triumph.

Megatron met Starscream's optics. He could see the shock and fear in them. "Megatron?" Starscream gasped, taking a step back. "It can't be! You're dead!"

"No, Starscream," Megatron said, walking toward him, a distinct purpose in his stride "You just _wish_ I was."

Now everyone was staring at Starscream again. "What does he mean?" Skywarp asked.

Starscream stuttered something unintelligable as he started backing away from his not so dead leader. Megatron grabbed his arm, stopping him from going any further and smirked at him, his red optics hard and cold. "Why don't you tell them?" he asked.

"I-I-I-," Starscream couldn't think of anything to say so Megatron spoke for him. "What my second in commend is trying to say is he thought I was dead because he himself tried to oust me."

Now everyone was staring at the jet who suddenly felt like he had that day he'd strode into the Decepticon bar. "Why you no good traitor!" Rumble exclaimed, pushing through the other Decepticons to get at the much bigger mech. "I'll teach you to-"

"No need for any of that, Rumble," Megatron cut him off, putting up a hand. "I will deal with him myself. The rest of you return you what you were doing."

With much grumbling the other bots returned to their posts as Megatron turned to Starscream and gave him a cold smile. "Now," he said, tightening his grip on Starscream's arm. "Why don't you come with me and we can _talk_?"

The other mech didn't even have time to protest or attempt to escape. Megatron drug him away and into the back room. As soon as the door shut behind him Starscream felt a powerful force impact with his helmet and send him to the floor. Beforehis even hti the cold metal Megatron yanked him back to his feet and hit him again, this time in the face. The mech grunted and fell back, feeling pain course through his entire face. Megatron hit him again then let him go. Starscream's body slammed into the floor with a clang but, before he could even bother trying to get back up, the other mech's foot came down on his stomach plating. He let out a yelp as Megatron lifted his foot again and kicked him in the side. He flipped over onto his back and Megatron foot smashed down on it.

The mech screamed in agony and tried to crawl away. The Decepticon commander's foot stomped down on his leg and held him still.

Megatron, assured that Starscream couldn't get away, leaned down. "You thought you could dount cross me?" he demanded, his voice low and angry in the seeker's audio receptor's. "You thought you could get me to trust you and then stab me in the back?" the gray mech's hand clasped around Starscream's left wing. "You thought you could get away with it?!" he yanked and the jet screamed again as he felt his wing being torn off. "You should have thought about the conciquences if your little plan failed!" he threw the wing aside. It hit the wall and clattered to the floor. "All those years I spent training you, encouraging you, watching your progress and thinking I could trust you and _this_ is how you repay me!?" He grabbed Starscream's other wing and slowly tore it from the jet's body. "So tell me. Was it _worth_ it?!"

"No!" Starscream shouted in desperation as he felt his other wing being slowly rippied from his body. 'it wasn't?"

"Are you sure?" Megatron asked, still ripping if off slowly.

"Yes!"

He pulled the wing off completely and threw it aside, listening to the seeker scream. He knelt down and grabbed his shoulder. "Let's make sure you're not lying."

Outside in the control room the other bots could here the jet's agonized screams just as clearly as if he was actually in the room with them. Thundercracker stared at the closed door of the backroom, telling himself Starscream was getting exactly what he deserved, but not feeling that way at all. Something kept telling him he should do soemthing to hlep him. He wondered why he was thinking such a thing. Starscream was a traitor and deserved to be punished for what he had done. It was none of the other seeker's business anyway.

Skywarp walked past him. "That noise is giving me a headache. I'm going for a walk." he looked at Thundercracker. "Coming?"

"Sure," Thundercracker said, getting up. He'd been looking for an excuse to get away from the screams. If he had to listen to them anymore he might do something regretful...

The two headed out, leaving the sound of Starscream's wails of agony behind.

By the time Megatron was finished with Starscream, the seeker's body looked almost unrecognizeable. The gray mech kicked him one last time then let him lay on the floor, whimpering, totally repentant. He knelt down and grabbed Starscream's battered helmet, roughly twisting his head around so he could look at him. The seeker stared at him through one good optic, the other shattered and darkened.

"I hope you're a little wiser now, Starscream," Megatron said.

The seeker said nothing for a moment. His other optics flickered, threatening to go out. Finally he said, his voice lower than it had ever been and sounding totally pathetic. "Why don't you just kill me?"

"You'd like that wouldn't you?" the gray mech asked, pulling his face closer to his own. He took in Starscream's expression and smiled humorlessly. "No I'm not going to kill you. Killing you would be the easy way out. " he let the seeker's head go and the jet flopped back to the floor. "I'll let you live."

Starscream forced his head up and looked at Megatron through his good optic. "W-why?" he asked, getting the feeling it didn't have anything to do with mercy.

Megatron gave him that cold smile again and turned away. "Because, killing you would give me no satisfaction..."

0000000

_Present day earth_

_"Because, killing you would give me no satisfaction..."_

Such a simple answer that had been but it had been a half lie. Though killing Starscream wouldn't have satisfied him in the least he'd had more of a reason than that for not getting rid of the traitorous air commander. He just wasn't sure what it had been. "That is of no concern to you," he told the woman, lowered his fusion cannon and glaring at her with cold optics. "What is your concern is what is going to happen to you if you don't tell me right now what your reason is for going after him."

"and then you would be satisfied?" she asked. "Even if I did tell you the whole story you would tihnk I was lying."

Now he smiled. "I thought of that too," he said. he turned her toward Soundwave who was watching them both with expressionless optics. "Should you lie to me I will have Soundwave probe that little mind of yours for the information." he turned her back to himself, still smiling. "So either way you have no choice."

"Too bad for you I have no intention of sticking around that long," she said.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" he demanded.

She raised her arm. 'This!" and fired.

Megatron took the blast in the left optic. The glass shattered and rained down on the hunter, sliding harmlessly off her suit. Megatron roared in pain, letting her go and grabbing his optic. She landed on her feet on the floor, feeling pain course through her entire body. She forced herself to ignore it and took off, hearing the gray mech's agonized screams behind her.

_A/N_

_Don't know what to say to this chapter really. Incase you might be wondering, no, Silv isn't a really important character. She may or may not appear later on in the story. It depends on if I can use her again. I only used her as the person that repaired Megatorn because none of the canon characters, besides the super loyal Decepticons would give him the time of day. So I figured I'd use soemebody else. _

_By the way. SpartanCommander, I appreciate the helpful comments you give me but I currently have no way of adding those characters you mentioned into the story. Don't take this the wrong way or anything but if I find some way to add them I will. If not, and depending on how this story progresses, I probably won't. I hope this won't upset you. _


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 13

Megatron lost his footing and fell onto the floor. He landed on his hands and knees and stayed in a crouched position, grinding his teeth at the pain of having his optic shot out. He had no expected the hunter to retaliate and felt a bit foolish for not considering that it might.

"Megatron," he heard Soundwave exclaim then footsteps as the blue mech ran over to him.

When Soundwave tried to help him up he pushed him away. "I'm all right," he told him testily. "It's not as serious as it looks. Go after that thing and bring it back to me. I want it alive!"

Soundwave did what he was told and ran out of the control room. Megatron groped around for a chair and found one, pulling himself into it, his head still in his hand. "That thing will pay for shooting me," he growled, glaring at the floor. "_Nobody_ does this to Megatron and gets away with it!"

* * *

"He's crazy!" Skywarp was saying to Thundercracker. After Starscream had threatened him the black jet had gone to find his best friend. Thundercracker was finished with his shift at monitor duty so he had time to talk. He just hadn't expected Skywarp to want to talk about Starscream.

"Of _course _he's crazy," the blue and gray jet replied, fixing an uninterested look at his friend. "Are you only just realizing this?"

"No, I mean, he's crazier than before," Skywarp replied, gesturing wildly. "He threatened to _kill _me!"

Thundercracker still wasn't impressed. This was old news. "When _hasn't_ he threatened to kill you?"

Skywarp sighed and leaned against the wall, folding his arms and looking his friend square in the optics. "I know I know but..." The blue and gray jet thought he saw his friend shudder. "It was _different_ this time," he said, his voice low.

"How do you mean 'different'?" Thundercracker questioned him. He leaned back in his chair, folding his arms and giving the other seeker his full attention now. "What did he say?"

"It's not what he said exactly," the black seeker said, trying his best to describe it. 'It's more like how he said it."

Thundercracker was getting impatient. 'How did he say it?"

"Like this," Skywarp lowered his voice a few octaves and added a deep pitch to it. "I will personally show you what I mean." Skywarp's voice returned to normal. "He said it exactly like that. I'm telling you he's either lost it or his voice finally changed."

Thundercracker let that sink in then asked. "What did you say to him?"

"What?"

"What did you say to him?" the blue and gray seeker repeated himself, speaking slower so he could be understood better. "You had to have said something to him to make him say that to you. Now what did you say?"

"All I did was ask him how it felt to be beaten by such a small thing." Skywarp saw the look on his friend's face. "What? That's all I said."

"You didn't happen to mention that date you missed because of this did you?"

The other seeker looked away. Caught. "Well... yeah.."

"Skywarp!"

"What?"

"What were you thinking?" Thundercracker demanded. "Of _course_ he's going to be angry if you say something like that. Why didn't you just leave him alone like Megatron ordered?!"

Skywarp made a face. "Cuz I was curious. What's the big deal?"

Thundercracker shook his head. "Did you ever think that maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to bother him about it now?" he asked. "That he might, you know, need some time to himself to cool down or something?"

Skywarp shook his head. "All right," he gave in. "I should have known better but-"

"That's right you _should_ have," another voice cut him off. The two seekers looked toward the door. Starscream stood in the doorway with his arms folded, and his mouth turned down in a scowl. He had heard the entire conversation and didn't look happy that they were talking about him. "But like always you didn't bother to think. All you thought about was poking your nose where it didn't belong."

"What's the big deal?" Skywarp asked, defensively.

"The big deal is that you-"

But before he could finished he was interrupted by the sound off running footsteps. The red, white, and blue seeker turned his head and spotted Soundwave running toward him. Even though the other mech's face was expressionless as always Starscream detected a glint of urgency in his optics. Stepping away from doorway he stood in the hall and blocked the other mech's path. Soundwave almost plowed into him but stopped himself at the last moment.

"What's going on?" Starscream demanded. "Why are you rushing around the base like a high wired sparkling?"

Soundwave attempted to push past him but the seeker put out a hand and shoved him back a step. "You didn't answer my question."

As it turned out the other mecha didn't have to. The reason for his urgency suddenly appeared behind him, further down the hall. Starscream's optics widened and his mouth hung open in horror. Soundwave, wondering what Starscream was gaping at, looked over his shoulder and saw the figure dart away. He stepped away from the seeker and turned to chase after his quarry.

By then Thundercracker and Skywarp, wondering what was going on, poked their heads out of the room. They saw the communications officer running down the hall, away from them. "What was that about?" Thundercracker asked, looking up at Starscream. He saw the horrified look on his superiors dark face. "Starscream?"

"It's loose!" the jet exclaimed suddenly, making the other two jump. "He brought it here and now it's _loose_!"

"What?" Skywarp said, totally confused. "Brought what here?"

"That thing!" Strascream told him, glaring at the two jets.

"You mean the little robot that beat you to a pulp?" Skywarp asked, grinning.

Starscream chose to ignore that comment. He turned from the other seekers and dashed down the hall, away from the direction the hunter had gone. Skywarp and Thundercracker looked at each other then stepped out of the room, choosing to follow Soundwave. If the hunter was loose Megatron would want them to capture it.

* * *

Sam put as much distance as she could between Soundwave and herself. She knew she wasn't safe in the base of Decepticons no matter where she went but that didn't mean she couldn't try to avoid them. That was just one of her worries. The other involved her powersuit. A warning light was flashing at the corner of her helmet, a clear indication that the power levels of her suit were dangerously low. If she used anymore of her power or was hit once by firepower the suit would go offline and shatter, leaving her exposed and vulnerable.

_I have to find something to recharge it, _she thought, ducking into another room a few seconds before Soundwave entered the one she'd been in previously. She peeked around the door frame and spotted the blue mech standing still and looking around himself, searching for her. She ducked her head out of view and leaned her back against the wall, her mind racing. _But first I have to shake Big Blue back there. _

Soundwave opened his chest compartment and ejected two of his tapes. Rumble and Ravage. "Find the hunter," he told them.

The two smaller mechs nodded and ran off in search of the woman.

Sam heard the sound of approaching footsteps. Strangely they weren't as loud as the giant blue mech's. Curiously she peeked out again and spotted a much smaller robot, this one of a purple color, walking toward her hiding place. He stopped and their eyes met. "There he is!" the small mech exclaimed, breaking into a run.

_Stupid me! _She ducked out of view again and ran into the shadows of the darkened room. She wasn't sure how long that would last though. Even if she hid in the darkness of the base these robots probably had inferred and would spot her anyway. _My best bet is to find a place to hide and try to figure out a way to get out of here and get my suit recharged, _she thought, trying to ignore the little warning siren that told her her power was dangerously low. _But I might not have enough time for that. I might have to recharge it here. That is __**if **__I can find something to use to recharge it with. _

"He went in here!" she heard one of the robots shouting. Footsteps. "He can't have gone far. This room has no other exit. Ravage, you go that way and I'll go this way."

_Darn! _she thought, grinding her teeth. Just what she didn't need. To be trapped in a dark room with the small robots. "I have to get out of here! But how!"

Suddenly she froze. She thought she heard the sound of growling, only it sounded metallic, as if some metal beast was stalking in the shadows. She looked up just in time to see two glowing red lights with nothing to hold them. The next instant a heavy metal body slammed into her, knocking her to the floor.

* * *

Megatron nearly collided with Strascream on his way out of the computer room. Luckily he saw the seeker in time and grabbed his arms to stop him. "Where are _you_ going in such a hurry, Starscream?" he demanded.

Starscream broke his superior's hold, in no mood to be detained for stupid questions. "As far away from that thing as possible," he retorted angrily. He pointed a finger into Megatron's face. "I don't care _what_ you say anymore. That thing is my business as long as it's in the base. I should have known you wouldn't be able to keep a hold on it. Now it's loose and it's going to come after me just like I knew it would."

Megatron pushed him aside. "You're an idiot, Starscream," he said. "Do you think I'm stupid or something?"

The seeker sneered at him. "Do you _really _want me to answer that?"

The gray mech glared at him, raising a hand as if to slap him. Starscream didn't even flinch. He noticed the other mech seemed to be missing an optic. "Looks like you had your own encounter with the mighty hunter," he said sarcastically.

Megatron, deciding not to slap him, angrily shoved him to the floor instead. "I don't have time for your annoying banter," he snapped. "Now, unless you know where that hunter is, get out of my sight."

Starscream scrambled to his feet, his face a mask of defiance. "Even if I did I wouldn't tell _you_!" he yelled before running off before Megatron could punish him further.

Megatron watched him go then shook his head, more out of pity than anger. "I was right," he muttered. "Starscream is nothing but a child." then he ran down the hall in the opposite direction his second in command had gone.

* * *

Sam fought against the weight pinning her to the floor. She still wasn't sure what she was fighting with but it was heavy and it growled like a giant metallic animal. "Get off me, whatever you are!" she shouted, trying to shove it off her with her legs. The thing just growled and tried to bite at her face, its body not even giving an inch.

She heard the footsteps behind her getting closer than stopping. "Good work, Ravage," a voice said above her head. "You caught him before he could get away. Now hold him until Soundwave gets here."

She ground her teeth together. The last thing she needed was for them to bring her back to Megatron and the silent robot named Soundwave. She had to get away but there was nothing she could do with this thing on top of her. _I'm low on power so I can't even shoot it. If I shoot it I won't be able to do anything else and they'll get me anyway. _She did not want to give up, even though she knew it was a lost cause.

She kicked hard at the body holding her down but it was like kicking a brick wall. She heard a clang but the thing didn't even give slightly. She cursed under her breath. She wasn't going to get away from this thing and every kick just made it madder.

"Excellent, Ravage," a heavy robotic voice said in a monotone.

She turned her head and spotted the expressionless blue robot standing in the doorway, his body looking like a giant blocky shadow in the darkness. She ground her teeth, glaring up at the massive robot walking toward her. The lights in the room suddenly came on and for a moment she had to close her eyes until they adjusted to the sudden light. When she opened her eyes again she finally could make out the thing that had jumped on her. It looked like some kind of black robot panther. It glared at her with with its red optics and snapped at her head again with its metal jaws.

The blue robot spoke again. "Enough, Ravage." the robotic panther finally got off of her and she sat up. Instantly the smaller more humanoid robot grabbed her arm and forced her to stand. She swatted at it but it grabbed her other arm and yanked it behind her so hard that she let out a yelp of pain. Then she felt her entire body being enveloped by the blue robots huge hand and lifted off the floor.

She struggled against his hold, even though she knew she wouldn't be able to get out. She was determined not to go down without a fight. "Let me go, you giant tin drone!" she shouted, glaring at his red sunglasses type optics.

The robot stared at her silently for a moment then he spoke again. "Prisoner's power levels dangerously low." he tightened his grip on her body. "More damage sustained. Danger level minimum.."

"I'll show you minimu-"

She was cut off as she felt the pressure as he started to squeeze her body. She cried out as the warning levels on her power suit quickly lowered to zero. She heard a loud click then whiteness as her suit shattered off her body.

Soundwave opened his hand and stared at the creature lying on it, surrounded by power suit parts. He had no reaction because he already knew what she looked like and if it surprised him nobody would ever know anyway.

Rumble stared up at the figure in Soundwave's hand in fascination. "So _that's_ what it was," he said.

About that time Thundercracker and Skywarp came charging into the room and nearly ran into Soundwave. Luckily they stopped in time or all three would have crashed to the floor and the blue mech would have dropped the woman. The Communications Officer turned to them and they got their first look at the _real _thing that had been after Starscream. Skywarp started laughing. "_That's_ what's been after Starscream this whole time?" he asked. He reached out a hand and poked her. "A female flesh bag in high tech armor?!"

Thundercracker gave his friend a look then leaned forward to see the human at a better angle. "Won't Starscream be embarressed when he sees this," he commented, his voice not mocking or amused. He was just stating fact.

"Starscream _isn't _going to see it," another voice said.

The Decepticons turned toward the voice.

Megatron, his optic still blown out from his encounter with the hunter, stepped toward them. He stopped when he was close enough to see the human and folded his arms. "Starscream is not going to learn about the identity of this hunter," he told them. "Not until I have learned all I can from it, including the reason why it-she was after him in the first place." he poked the human with his finger, his face a mask of concentration. "and I _will_ find out why."

* * *

"Starscream!" Starscream froze at the sound of his name being called. He looked over his shoulder. He saw a purple and white robot behind him, looking slightly off balance, as if he'd been shoved aside by somebody in a hurry."What do you want, Blitzwing?"

The triple changer regained his balance and didn't get any closer to the seeker than he was. He didn't feel like being knocked around again. He folded his arms and made a face. "I don't want_ anything_," he said. "I was just wondering where you are going in such a hurry and why you shoved me aside like you didn't even see me."

'That is none of your business," Starscream informed him. "And I wouldn't have to shove you aside if you weren't always in my way!"

Blitzwing put up his hands, wondering why the air commander was acting so irritable. "Hey," he said. "What's got you so snappy? You're acting like Skywarp stole your parts or something.."

"It does not concern you," the seeker informed him, angrily. "It's my business. Why can't you mind your own business? You've been in my business since I first joined the Decepticons! None of you need to be poking your noses into my business! Especially you and Megatron!"

"Megatron?"

Starscream ignored him and turned away, muttering under his breath. "It's all his fault. If he had just left it all alone none of this would have happened. But I can't totally blame him much as I hate to admit that. It's my fault too. I should have dealt with this years ago. Now it's all come back to haunt me."

Blitzwing stared at the seeker's back hearing him muttering something but unable to make it out. _He has gone crazy. I knew this would happen. Megatron should never have taken him in. First he weasels his way into second command then he betrays Megatron and is still allowed to keep his role even though we all know his true intentions and now he's resorted to talking to himself because of it. _Blitzwing turned away. _Maybe it would be best if I just avoid him from now on..._

* * *

Sam could hear voices but couldn't see the speakers. She wasn't totally conscious yet and right now she wanted to keep it that way.She was angry with herself for letting herself be captured again. _I did it again. It happened again. Why is this happening to me? I totally underestimated these robots and now I lost my suit. _Her hands unconsciously closed into fists. _If I had know that this would happen I never would have taken this job! When and if I ever get out of here and bring that son of a trash compactor to him I'm going to tell him to pay me extra for all the trouble I went through and he'd better do it too or I will-!_

She was suddenly aware of a pressure on both sides of her head. It felt like somebody was squeezing her head, like someone was trying to crush her skull. She screamed and sat up, feeling something yanking her backward. She fought against it, determined not to be pulled back into unconsciousness. Her fist contacted with something that clanged metallicly. She felt no pain.

"Whoa!" a voice exclaimed as a hand clasped onto her arm.

"Hold her still!" another voice shouted. "I want that information!"

"Okay but she's not being very cooperative. Help me, Frenzy!"

She felt another hand grasp her other arm and then somebody pulling her down. "No!" she screamed again and kicked out, striking that metal body again. This time it grunted. She kicked out again and struggled against the hold, determined not to be over taken again, but it was no use. She was shoved down once more and this time secured so she couldn't get up again. She forced her eyes open and stared up at two faces, one purple and one red. Both with sunglasses like optics. She glared at their impassive faces, a challenge in her eyes. "Get away from me, you walking trash compactors!" she shouted at them.

"This human has a mouth on her," the red robot said, raising his blasted.

"Stop that, Frenzy!" the other bot shouted, grabbing his arm. "Megatron did not order us to shoot her!"

The robot named Frenzy looked at the other bot that looked like him only colored differently. "But, Rumble, she's ordering us around," he said. "and she called us trash compactors."

"That's about all she can do." the one called Rumble retorted. "Besides, if you kill her, Megatron won't get the information he needs."

"That's right," Megatron said, stepping toward them. "So don't shoot her unless I tell you to, even if she mouths off to you." He looked over at Soundwave. "Are you done yet?"

The Communications Officer looked up from the compter console. "Soon," he replied.

"Good," the Decepticon Commander said, turning his attention back to the human. She smirked at him making him frown. "I see you have a new optic to replace the one I blew out."

"Consider that your only accomplishment," he told her, putting his hand on the table next to her body. She noticed she was about as tall as it was long. "Without that powersuit of yours you're nothing but a weak human being."

"I am no ordinary human," she informed him.

He took the news with a blank expression. "Maybe," he said. "but you are _still _a human and without your powersuit you can do nothing."

She glared at him. She knew he was right but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of being affirmative.

"You don't have to say anything," he told her. "It doesn't matter. That powersuit also seemed to have another feature. Protecting your mind from probing but, now that it's gone, getting the information I want should be easy." he looked over at Soundwave and gave him the get go. "You may proceed."

The pressure returned and she fell back screaming and writhing at the pain, unable to escape it this time. Megatron watched her for a moment, neither enjoying her pain or pitying her. He would have stayed to watch longer but he had something else he needed to do. With quick orders to Soundwave he stepped out of the room, the woman's agonized screams echoing behind him.

* * *

Starscream got the feeling Megatron might want to talk to him again. He did not want to talk to Megatron. The last thing he needed right now was a scolding or a beating or whatever from his superior. He had enough problems already without Megatron breathing down his neck.

Right now he was in his quarters, trashing the place. _You run away from your father because he thinks you can't become anything and join the Decepticons, _he thought, throwing parts against the wall. _You gain your rank and then, when you're almost there, you double cross Megatron, who by the way actually respected you back then, and he comes back and beats you into living slag but doesn't finish the job! _Now he threw his chair across the room. It smacked into the door. _He keeps you around to humiliate you with any chance he gets and he uses you for a scape goat when things go wrong! Nobody else respects you either! Well I don't care! I don't need their respect! _Now his computer hit the door. "And now when things aren't bad enough said creator sends a bounty hunter no bigger than a human to capture you!"

He kicked the wall angrily then turned his attention upward, taking his anger out on whoever might be listening. "Primus! You just can't give me a break can you? What are you going to do next? Have Megatron actually kill me?! Have him charge his gun up to full power and blow me to pieces?!" He shook his fist at the ceiling, yelling at the transformer deity he didn't believe was real anyway. "Well if you _ever_ do such a thing I will not just vanish! I won't stay dead! My spark will stay around and make everyone's lives miserable until I finally get my way in things! Do you hear me, Primus!?" He kicked his chair, which had rolled back over to him. It hit the door again with a thump. "I will not be denied!"

"But you will be in trouble if you don't open that door when Megatron gets here," a voice said.

Starsceram turned around, raising the nullguns on his arms. Skywarp stood behind him, grinning. The seeker did not relax his stance. Skywarp looked around himself. "Wow, you must really be angry to do this," he said, shaking his head. "Shame on you."

Starscream was in no mood for the other seeker's ill timed words. "Get out of my room, you idiot!" he shouted.

Skywarp looked back at him. The air commander had that killer look in his optics again. The black and gray seeker took a step back, putting up his hands. "Look, Screamer-," he began.

"And don't call me that!" .

Skywarp kept this hands up, as he slowly began to disappear again. "Primus, what's got your parts rusted?"

* * *

Soundwave stared up at the computer consoles huge screen, indifferent to the sounds of the hunter's screams behind him. He watched as images from the hunters memories passed quickly across the screen. Nothing important yet but he was fascinated by what he saw anyway. How could somebody so young go through so much and still be sane, especially a human? He had to wonder though. How could this human have even seen the places she had? Earth technology was primitive yet the technology from the memories from her early life was advanced. Plus there were other humans as well. Where had they come from and how did they get where they were? Megatron might know something about this since he was a few years older than Soundwave and had been to more places.

He stopped thinking about it and turned his full attention back on the screen. Still nothing.

_A/N_

_Starscream's a little stressed and is starting to lose it. XD Can't blame him. I'd be a little crazy too. _


	15. Chapter 15

CHAPTER 14

Megatron heard the commotion coming from Starscream's room before he even reached the door. It sounded like the air commander was in the middle of a fight with somebody but he couldn't be sure. Starscream had a bad habit of throwing fits sometimes, especially when something had him ticked off. _Now what's go him so upset? _

The gray mech pressed the button that opened the door. He had to duck as a chair came flying at his head. It smacked into the wall behind him, leaving a humongous dent. "Starscream!" Megatron shouted, straightening up. "What in Primus name are you doing?!"

Starscream paused for a moment, turning to his superior. He stood amidst a huge mess that he'd created. Tools, spare parts, and things Megatron couldn't recognize lay scattered on the floor. It looked like he'd been in a struggle with somebody but Starscream was the only one in the room.

"Well?" Starscream demanded, his optics flaring brighter like Megatron's did every once in awhile. "What do you _want_?"

The last thing Megatron needed was for Starscream to yell at him. Starscream should know better than to do such a thing, especially after all the hard lessons he'd learned for doing such a thing in the past. The gray mecha stepped into the room and closed the distance between himself and the seeker.

Megatron was taller than Starscream by a few feet and towered over the smaller transformer, his arms folded and his mouth turned down in a scowl. The seeker met his gaze without flinching. "First off I want to know what in the name of Vector Sigma are you doing?" he repeated himself, his voice level.

Starscream did not answer. He just keep on glaring at the taller mech, a challenge in his optics. _Go ahead. Scold me. I dare you to. I dare you to open that big mouth of yours and yell at me for trashing my own room!_

"If this has anything to do with what happened to you earlier-"

"It has _nothing_ to do with what happened to me earlier!" Starscream cut him off, sharply.

Megatron didn't believe that for a second. Skywarp had told him how Starscream had been acting since they got back and he knew it had something to do with what happened with the hunter. "You know why it came here don't you?" he asked.

"No!" Starscream said indignantly. "Why would I know why it came after me?!"

Megatron gave him an impatient look. "Because it went after you," he replied. "and because I know a thing or two about bounty hunters. They don't just go after something for no reason. They are hired. Somebody hired that hunter to capture you for some reason. I would like to know what that reason is and I think you know."

"You're wasting your time asking me," Starscream retorted. He raised his arm and pointed toward the control room. "Why don't you ask _him_?"

Megatron smirked. "Oh, I'll get the information soon enough," he told him. "and when I do it better not be something I should never know, for your sake."

Starscream felt a surge of panic go through him but forced himself to remain calm. Even if his guess did prove right what could the information of his true reasons for joining the Decepticons change? Starscream would still remain in his current position and Megatron would still be the leader. The only difference would be that Megatron would know everything about his past because, if the seeker knew his commander, as soon as he found out that his creator was after him he'd want to know the whole story and would get him to tell in the most painful ways possible if he didn't give it willingly. Starscream did not _want_ to give it willingly.

_But maybe I can keep him from learning that much... _"Go ahead," he said. "Probe the hunter's mind all you want. I get the feeling you won't get the information you're looking for."

Megatron leaned toward him, his optics cold and probing. "And what is _that_ supposed to mean?"

Starscream smirked. "I know a little something about bounty hunters as well." he replied. "They have strong wills."

The Decepticon commander's face didn't change expression as he said, "Not when they have wires hooked to their skulls."

Starscream stared at him, not sure how to comment. Megatron turned from him, satisfied that he'd gotten the last word. As he stepped out of the room he said over his shoulder, as an after thought. "Don't forget to clean up this mess. If it's still here when I come back I won't be happy."

Starscream knelt down to pick up some dics. "What makes you think I'll even be here when you get back?" he muttered under his breath. "and what makes you think you can tell me what my room should look like? You're not my creator.."

* * *

Back on one of Cybertron's moons, Silverblade paced the halls of his lab, impatiently. It had been a long time since the hunter had last reported in and he was getting restless. Why hadn't she gotten back to him by now? What was she doing? Had she captured him yet? Was she even trying to? Had she been killed.

_She said not to bother her again. She said she'd call back when she captured him, _he kept reminding himself. _Until then I'm supposed to wait. _He angrily slammed a fist into the wall. _But for how long?!_

He stopped pacing and stared down the darkened hall. It had been years since he'd gone further than the docking area a short walk from his own quarters. Something told him he should walk those halls again. He wasn't sure why but he did just that.

* * *

Meanwhile Sam was forced to endure the pain of having her mind probed for information. She'd gone through this kind of thing before but it had never been this painful. She had to get away but she currently couldn't think of a plan because of the pressure on her skull.

Soundwave was still at his post, staring impassively at the images on the screen. This had been going for a half hour and still there was nothing showing up that explained what she was doing. It wasn't making any sense. Was she able to block any kind of memory she didn't want people to see? Did she have a strong enough will to do such a thing? It was a fascinating thought but she was still a human. Her mind wasn't as impenetrable as a transformers. He'd find what Megatron wanted him to eventually.

Then something strange appeared on the screen. Soundwave pressed some keys and the mind probe shut off, giving the hunter a break. The Communications Officer stared at a grainy image on the screen. The structure looked familiar but the image was so distorted he wasn't sure what he was seeing.

His fingers flew over the keys as he tried to make the image clearer. Nothing seemed to help it. It still remained blurry.

Sam lay where she was, panting heavily, glad that the pain in her skull had stopped, even if it was just for a moment. She opened her eyes and caught a glimpse of the image Soundwave was trying to clear. She already knew what it was but wasn't about to tell him. She looked around herself and at the iron holding her to the metal table. If only she could free herself from this before he started scanning her brain again. _Think, girl, think, _she thought to herself, trying to concentrate. _There's got to be a way for you to free yourself. _She clenched a fist then let her hand go slack. She pulled it toward her, hoping to slide her arm free. That proved to be impossible.

Just then Megatron stepped back into the room. His red optics met her eyes for a moment. She glared back a challenge before he turned away and focused his attention on the image on the screen.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Inconclusive," Soundwave told him. "Unable to clarify further." he looked over at Megatron. "Permission to proceed?"

Megatron folded his arms and gave it some thought. "Not just yet," he said. "Maybe now she'll be willing to give out that information willingly." now he turned back to the woman.

Once again her whole vision was enveloped by his giant gray face. She smirked at him. "You're even uglier up close," she quipped.

He had no time for this. "Spare me the insults, human," he told her. "I wouldn't be so smart mouthed if you knew what else is in store for you if you don't give me that information."

She glared at him, longing to kick out his other optic. "It couldn't be any worse than_ this_," she shot back.

He smirked. "No?" he said. He folded his arms and leaned them on the edge of the table. "I have ways of making it even worse. This is only the beginning."

She made no comment. How much worse could it get besides them trying to crush her skull? She didn't want to know.

"But," he leaned back now, no longer being the only thing she could see. Of course you can avoid such things if you would just give me that information."

"And then what?" she asked. "You just going to give me back my suit and let me walk out of here free as you please?" she sneered at him, knowing better. "I don't think so. I know how creatures like you work. It's not that easy, now is it?"

He regarded her coldly. She knew more about those kind of things than he thought. It was surprising but not a big deal. _She must have gone through it before. _He figured. "You are correct," he told her. "It's not that easy and it seems you are still not willing to give me the information. Therefore..." he stepped away from her and turned toward Soundwave who was watching him expectantly. "You may resume."

* * *

Starscream stepped out into the hall, leaving his room in a state of utter chaos. He wasn't planning on entering it again anytime soon so it would just have to stay that way until he did. What he was about to do might get him into even more trouble than he already was but he was willing to take that risk. He was not going to let Megatron find out about his past. He'd to anything to keep him from learning it, even if it meant sever punishment for interfering with an interrogation. He'd rather get into trouble than allow Megatron to have another advantage over him, even if the information did seem completely harmless. It wasn't harmless. Not by any means.

_There are just some things, oh mighty Megatron, _Starscream thought, walking down the hall and checking the power levels on his null guns. _That are best left unknown. _

* * *

"Wait!"

Soundwave stopped, his finger inches from the activation button. He and Megatron turned their heads back toward the hunter.

She was wiggling around, trying to loosen the wires attached to the sides of her head by moving it jerkily. She didn't want to tell them why she was after Starscream but neither did she want the pain again. She decided to play it the smart way. Tell them but in as few words as possible. That way she was still holding back but still avoided further agony to her brain.

"Wait a moment," Megatron said to Soundwave, putting up a dark gray hand. He walked back over to her and leaned over her again. "Are you ready to talk now?"

She replied in one word. "Father," she told him.

He stared at her in confusion. "Father?" he said. "What kind of answer is that?"

She lifted her head, her eyes focusing on his optics. "What does the word mean to you?" she asked.

"Nothing," he replied.

She smirked at him, her face holding a very strange expression. "It means _everything_ to him." she replied. "Why don't you ask him what it means?"

Megatron moved away from her, his own expression changing. "I just might." he said. He turned away and looked over at Soundwave who was waiting for orders. Megatron shook his head at the other mecha. "Wait until I get back." he ordered, then stepped out of the room. "I have something I need to check up on."

* * *

Silverblade stepped into another room and then just stood in the doorway, staring at a room he hadn't used in over four million years. It was the main lab area of the building, the most used room in the facility. The old mech and his "children" had used it many times before Starscream left, leaving behind the ruined corpses of his own siblings. Silverblade still couldn't be sure if Starscream had done that the day he'd left of much later when he'd gained enough courage after joining the Decepticon ranks. Silverblade had been away from the lab for a considerable amount of time back then. It didn't matter anyway, it had been done.

Finally, after a moment, the mech stepped further into the room until he reached the center where a large table, tarnished with misuse stood. He ran his hand over it, remembering the times when he and Starscream had worked here. A sudden depression overwhelmed him as the memories flooded back. Memories of a much happier time, when things were as they should be...

* * *

"No, that's _not _how you do that. You're supposed to do it this way," Silverblade reached out and grasped the younger mecha hands, patiently guiding them in the proper patterns. "You see? This is much easier."

Starscream sighed and allowed his creator to move his hands along the object he held in them. He felt impatient and a little rebellious. He wanted to prove he knew how to do it without help. It almost felt as if Silverblade was purposely not allowing him to have a chance.

"I _know_ how to do it," he said, his voice betraying the impatiences he felt. "I _don't_ need you constantly showing me."

The older mech sighed and let his hands go, stepping back and nodding. "I know this," he said, folding his arms and leaning his back against another examining table.. "It's just hard to let things go."

Starscream, dropped the item and turned on his creator. "_Why_ is it so hard?" he wanted to know. "It wasn't so hard for the others. Why is it so hard for you to let me do things on my own?"

Silverblade looked away. "You're special," he replied, his voice making it sound like his creation should know . "I've told you this already."

"But you never tell me_ why_," the other mech said. "What makes me so special? I'm no different from the others. I don't need special treatment."

"I know," his creator replied, looking back at him. "But I don't feel it's time to tell you."

Starscream wanted to argue but thought better of it. He turned from his creator and returned to what he had been doing. After a moment he asked. "What is war?"

Silverblade stared at him. "Why are you asking me this?" he wanted to know.

"Because you've been around much longer than I have," Starscream replied, refusing to look at his creator again. "I figured you might know. What is war and why must it happen?"

"Starscream," Silverblade said. "have you been watching listening in on my conversations again?"

The red, white, and blue mech did not answer. Instead he said. "You don't know what it is, do you?"

The silver mech stepped toward him. He put a hand on his shoulder and turned him around so he could look him in the eye. "I know very well what war is," he said. "It is something that tears people apart. It ruins ones existence and changes you. It is something I never want to go through again and don't want you to ever go through."

"What is so wrong with war?" Starscream wanted to know. He didn't understand. "What is so wrong with the war going on on the planet?"

"That war is just a rumor," Silverblade told him, waving that statement off. Why was the younger mech so interested in those things suddenly? "I told you it's not something you need to take seriously."

Starscream was quite for a few more moments, thinking it over. He didn't seem convinced but who was he to question his creator's knowledge? If he said there was no war going on then there mustn't be a war. "But what if there _was_ a war?" he asked, finally. "What would make it so wrong?"

Silverblade sighed. "It's not anything you need to be worrying about," he told him. He grabbed the younger mechs hands again. "You're _still_ doing that wrong. Let me show you again..."

* * *

Silverblade sighed. It had seemed like such an innocent question at the time. If he had known it would eventually lead to this he never would have gotten into it. It had just caused division and other problems. He ran his hand over the table's surface for a moment, thinking.

Suddenly he slammed his fist on the table, denting it, then turned and stormed out of the room, pushing aside the memories that tried to flood back into his processor. It was best if he didn't think about it anymore, it was best if he just stay angry. Once he finally had Starscream back he'd make the mech regret ever leaving in the first place.

* * *

Sam's brain was working normally once more now that she'd been given time to shake off the effects of the mind probe. She mentally took stock of her situation, knowing full well she wasn't out of the woods yet. Soundwave, the big blue mecha was still trying to get the image on the computer screen to come in clearly. She already knew what it was he was looking at and knew it wouldn't get any clearer than it already was. Silverblade had always been in the shadows when the two had spoken. She had no detailed memory of his face.

She regretted giving Megatron that clue. Her mind hadn't been working properly when she had said those words to him. Her old nature had taken over, her pretraining nature, before she had learned holding in important information was more important than avoiding agony. She should have known better. She turned her head and studied the iron clamps holding her down once more, trying her best to think of a plan of escape but coming up with nothing. She sighed in frustration. She had to think of something.

She wasn't aware of the object of her mission peeking his head into the control room just then, his optics glued on the computer screen and he was unaware of her as well. Starscream stared open mouthed at the fuzzy image of his creator. Though he hadn't seen Silverblade in years he could recognize his likeness no matter how blurred it was. _So it __**was**__ him after all, _he thought. He raised his arm, aiming the nullgun at the screen. _I don't know what he's doing up there but I'm not going to let anybody find out anymore than they already have. _he took careful aim. _Say good bye to my creator, Megatron!_

"Hey what are you doing?" a voice behind him demanded.

Starscream jumped, startled and shot before he wanted to. The blast didn't hit the screen bit it did hit the control panel. Soundwave stepped back and dived to the floor as the panel shot off sparks and smoke.

The iron clamps holding the bounty hunter to the scanner part of the console broke away and she sat up, rubbing her wrists. She spotted the communications officer lying on the floor and heard a scuffle out in the hall. Taking advantage of the confusion she jumped down off the panel and ran off, leaving the control room through a different exit. Mentally she thanked whoever had done such a thing, grateful that they had.

Megatron had grabbed onto Starscream's arm after he fired and yanked him away from the doorway, forcing his arm behind his back and shoving him face first into the wall. "What in Primus name do you think you're _doing_?!" he demanded.

Starscream wiggled free of Megatron's grasp then turned around to face his superior. Megatron could see open rage and something else on his face. Desperation. At that moment Megatron knew that Starscream knew. The Air Commander did indeed know why the hunter was after him. He'd been lying the whole time.

"You do know," Megatorn said, pointing into the control room. 'That's why you did that! You're trying to keep me from finding out!"

"It's _none of your business_!" Starscream growled at him. "This is _my _problem. You have no right to try and find out about it."

"I have no right?!" Megatron roared, towering the seeker. "I have every _right_ to know why some bounty hunter is trying to capture one of my soldiers." he grabbed Starscream by the shoulders and shoved him against the wall again. "For your own good it had better be a good one."

Starscream glared up him, any traces of fear gone for the moment. Only certain types of circumstances enabled Starscream to face his superior without any type of fear of what he might do to him. This was one of those moments. "I suggest you abandon this futile attempt at trying to find out," the seeker told him, his voice lower than Megatron had ever heard it. "This is_ my _business and you have no right to get into it." He pointed a finger in Megatron's face. "This is one thing you shall _not_ hold over me. I will _never_ let that happen. Never!"

_A/N_

_This chapter was getting too long. I had to cut off the tail end of it. Sam is free again. She's got to find her powersuit but that might be a challenge. Poor Screamer. _


	16. Chapter 16

CHAPTER 15

The gray mech let Starscream's words sink in. Something told him that the seeker was right. Starscream would never tell him. If he wanted to know he would have to force the hunter to tell him. But... maybe he wouldn't. Maybe he _could_ get Starscream to tell him instead. An idea came to him.

"Starscream," he said. "Does the word father mean anything to you?"

Suddenly a change came over the seeker. His expression darkened further and his optics became cold. "What business is that of yours?" he demanded, through clenched teeth.

"A certain hunter mentioned that to me," the mech told him. "She told me that it meant something to you." he gave the seeker a long, hard, searching, look. "It does doesn't it?"

Starscream refused to answer but the closed in expression on his face was answer enough. "Starscream..."

"Just leave me alone!" The seeker exclaimed suddenly, raising his hands and shoving Megatron away.

The gray mech quickly regained his balance and would have shot Starscream for doing such a thing but he was already gone.

* * *

Thundercracker and Skywarp were in another hall conversing about the whole Starscream and bounty hunter situation when Skywarp exclaimed, pointing. "Hey, what's that thing?"

Thundercracker turned around and looked where his friend was pointing. He spotted something white running down the hall toward them. It took him a moment to recognize the thing as the bounty hunter he'd seen Soundwave then Megatron holding earlier. "It's that bounty hunter!" he exclaimed.

Skywarp looked at him. "But Soundwave was-" he began.

Thundercracker ignored him and ran toward the hunter. "She must have gotten out," he said. "We have to capture it before it gets away!"

Sam knew she was heading toward trouble when she saw the blue and gray robot that looked like Starscream repainted running toward her. Without her suit she had no way of defending herself against him so she decided it would be best to avoid him altogether. The only problem with that was there was no other way to go but straight ahead and that meant she had to think of some way to get past him and the black and purple Starscream look alike chasing after him.

The answer turned out to be pretty simple. She continued running forward but kept her eyes on the two jets. She knew they'd meet her about halfway and when they did... She had nearly reached them when she suddenly threw herself forward, her arms straight out in front of her.

Thundercracker, taken by surprise by the movement, stepped back instinctly avoiding stepping on her. Skywarp was still coming when he stepped back and ended up colliding with the other jet. The two fell to the floor with a clang, one on top of the other. Sam did a somersault on the floor to avoid being squashed by their bodies then got back to her feet again and continued running before either seeker could make a grab for her.

"Now look what you did!" Thundercracker exclaimed, trying to untangle himself from the other jet. "You let it escape."

"_I_ let it escape?! How is it my fault?" Skywarp asked indignantly. "_You're_ the one who stepped back. What did you do that for?"

"I didn't want to step on it," the other jet replied.

Skywarp made a face. "Maybe you should have."

Thundercracker finally untangled himself. "And what?" he asked, standing up and putting his hands on his hips. "Explain to Megatron that I killed the human because I wanted her to stop running? You know he wants to get information out of her. If I had crushed her he would not have been happy about it." he gave the other seeker a knowing look. "and he would have given me the exact same treatment he gave Starscream."

Skywarp nodded with understanding. They were both perfectly aware of how Megatron treated Starscream when he was angry with his second in command. Though the air commander deserved it most of the time the other seekers thought it best to avoid getting treated that way. It was most humiliating and Skywarp did not want that kind of thing to happen to his best friend.

"We'd better go after it," Thundercracker said, bending over and offering a hand to the black and purple seeker.. "Before it finds its way out of here."

Skywarp took it and the other seeker helped him up. "No need to worry about that," he said as they ran down the hall. "We're underwater. Even if it _did _find a way out it wouldn't be able to hold its breath long enough to reach the surface."

* * *

Sam looked over her shoulder and didn't seem any giant robots following her. She sighed in relief but didn't stop running until she was sure nobody was coming after her. Then she slowed and stopped, leaning over and panting, out of breath. "Well at least I'm okay for now," she panted. "But I'm still in trouble." she straightened and looked around herself. All she could see was a large dark hallway spanning out in front of her with some doors a little ways away. She sighed again. She couldn't leave yet even if she wanted to.

She had to regain her powersuit, wherever it was, and capture Starscream. She couldn't contact Silverblade either because the communicator had been built into her suit and she didn't carry a hand held. For now all she could do was try to avoid being spotted and find her suit before she got into more trouble.

_I don't plan on getting captured again, _she thought. _I refuse to go through that mind torture again. _She heard footsteps echoing down the hall behind her and started running again. _This time I'll be more careful. _she vowed. _This time I'll make sure I get it done __**right.**_

* * *

Soundwave rose from the floor and turned back to the computer. The control panel was nothing more than slag and the huge computer screen showed nothing more than static. Everything piece of information he'd taken from the hunters mind was gone, even the blurred image of what had looked like a giant gray robot.

"Soundwave."

The communications officer turned his head at the sound of his name being called. He saw Megatron standing in the doorway, his expression thoughtful. When he saw the other mech looking at him, he asked. "Do we still have something?"

Soundwave answered in a flat voice. "Negative."

Megatron sighed. "Starscream will pay dearly for doing this," he vowed, clenching a fist. "Something about this whole situation tells me that whatever that hunter knew was extremely important. Why else would Starscream be acting the way he is?"

Soundwave said nothing. Starscream had always been a spaz but his attitude recently was stranger than usual. He seemed more... paranoid.. Something was up and the blue mech could tell that Megatron was determined to find out what the seeker was hiding.

"Stay here," Megatron told him. 'Try to salvage something."

Soundwave nodded.

Megatron stepped out of the room and headed down the hall. _I don't like it when he hides things from me. _he thought, walking down the hall, his face hard._ Whatever this is I'm going to find out. The word 'father' made him freak out and I want to know why. I know a father is like a creator so it must have something to do with a creator. Maybe even his own. _The thought bothered the Decepticon. _Starscream once compared me to his creator. If his creator is anything like me no wonder he won't say anything about it. But then again it might not have anything to do with that. That human could have just been rambling. _He shook his head. "It doesn't really matter," he said out loud. "Once I get my hands on one or the other they're going to tell me everything even if I have to force them to scream it out."

* * *

Starscream had gone to the deserted area of the base. He needed to do some thinking and that was the perfect place to do it. Hardly anybody ever went to that area of the base anymore so he knew he wouldn't be bothered. He stepped into one of the rooms and closed the door behind him, then he just stood there in the dark, his mind returning to his problem. _Megatron doesn't understand my problem, _he thought. _and I don't want him to. It's none of his business. He should just stop trying to find things out because he's not going to learn anything and if that hunter is telling him things it gives me a good reason to kill it. I can't have __**anybody**__ telling Megatron about my past. _

He raised his arm and checked the power setting on his guns. Everything seemed to be in working order. He was ready for another encounter with the hunter, providing it didn't use that ice beam again.

"Let's see you try to use that beam again," he said to himself, raising the effects on his guns. "This time I _won't_ allow you to get the best of me. This time things will be_ different_!"

* * *

Sam was still looking for her powersuit. _I didn't see it in their control room so they must have taken it somewhere else, _she thought, still running down the hall to stay ahead of the echoing footsteps following her. _I don't know why they would want it aside from wanting to study it but if they do have it somewhere I hope they haven't done anything too damaging to it like dissect it. I need my suit to get out of here. The last thing I want happening to it is it getting taken apart until it's useless. _

She couldn't put it past them. Perceptor at the Autobots headquarters had taken a huge interest in its alloys and if she hadn't of got it back from him he might have dissected it as well. The very thought angered her. She did not mind curiosity but when it came to actually _doing_ something to her suit that was a whole different story.

_So they better not have, _she thought, reaching down and lifting her pant leg. She put her hand inside her boot and pulled out a small blaster. It wasn't much but it was something. It might still have enough power to do some damage if it came to that. _and it most likely will, _she thought, running again. _It usually does when I'm stuck in a hostile environment. _

* * *

Megatron had given Sam's suit to the Constructicons. He gave them one specific order. Find out what it was made of and see if they could use it to their advantage somehow. Hook decided that that meant take it apart and see how it worked so he was currently trying to do just that. The problem with that was, the suit was so small that taking it apart proved to be a task. He picked up the pieces and looked at them closely. Aside from the areas that seemed to split when it came off there was no way of taking it apart further.

"How does he expect me to find out anything if I can't even take it apart to see how it works?" he demanded, dropping the part onto the table. "What does he think I am?"

"A professional," replied Scrapper, coming up to the table and picking up a part. He zoomed in on it, studying it carefully. "This metal isn't Cybertronian or earth based. Whoever made this suit was not a transformer or a human."

"And yet a _human_ was wearing it," Hook said, picking up another part. "How could a human come across something like this? I've seen the technology of this planet. It's primitive."

"Maybe this human isn't _from_ earth?" Scrapper suggested, putting down the part and picking up another.

Hook shook his head. 'That is an impossibility," he said. "Though there are plenty of planets out there with beings living on them, none of them are close to being human. It's only safe to say that this "human" as Megatron called her is not a human at all but something that looks similar to one."

"But Soundwave scanned her body. She is indeed _human_."  
The other Constructicon could say nothing to that. He went back to the task at hand, dropping the subject completely as he picked up another piece. "Maybe..."

"What bothers me," Scrapper said. "Was, why it was after Starscream."

"I don't know," Hook said. "Why would _anything_ be after Starscream unless they're trying to kill him? He's not the most valuable soldier here, no matter what he says, and if somebody paid that hunter to capture him they must have a very good reason."

* * *

Sam peeked into another room, her eyes sweeping the entirety of it for any signs of more transformers or her powersuit. The most recent room she'd looked into did indeed house a few of the Decepticons but none of them looked anything like the ones she'd encountered so far. From what she had seen she had half been expecting to see more jet like transformers but these were completely different. They looked like the Autobots she'd seen, only darker. One of them even looked similar to Optimus Prime but with a different color scheme. _So they're _not_ all jets after all, _she thought. _Some of them are cars too. _She studied the purple insignia on their bodies, taking note that the markings would help her distinguish them from Autobots. Even if they were cars and similar in looks to most of them the Decepticon marking would give them away easily. _I'll keep that in mind so I don't get mixed up. _

A brief sweep of the room with her eyes told her that her powersuit wasn't in the room with them. She sighed and turned away. _So much for this being easy. _

Motormaster thought he saw some movement in the door way and turned his head. He caught a brief glimpse of something white but couldn't make out what it was. He stood up and walked over to the doorway. Deadend looked up from polishing his armor and asked. "What are you looking at?"

"I thought I saw something," the other Stunticon replied, reaching the doorway and peaking into the hall. Nothing. "But it might have been my imagination."

"They saw when your existence is coming to an end you start seeing things," the Prosche muttered.

Motormaster glared down at the fatalist. "The only one whose existance will come to an end is yours if you don't knock off that infernal doom talk," he snapped.

Deadend shrugged. "I have already come to terms with my fate," he said. "If I should be deactivated now it would not matter in the least..."

Motormaster sighed. It was almost impossible to get Deadend upset about anything. "Just forget it," he said, stepping into the hall.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to find that thing I saw," he told the other Stunticon. "It might be important."

Deadend shrugged and went back to polishing himself.

* * *

Starscream poked his head out of the room and looked down the darkened hallway. Nobody was in the area and he hadn't really expected anybody to be. He had to be careful though, especially after his earlier incident with Megatron. Satisfied that nobody was around he sighed and stepped into the hall, once again testing the power levels on his arm cannons. Everything seemed to be in order.

Relieved he headed down the hall, his nerves on edge, as if any moment he might run into somebody he didn't want to.

_Hopefully Megatron's preoccupied right now and won't bother looking for me. _Now that he had calmed down the old fear was creeping in again and he wasn't relishing another encounter with Megatron any time soon. He knew if he had he wouldn't enjoy the outcome. _He's getting too close to find out something. I can't let that happen. _He clenched a fist. _The only two people that would tell him anything is me and that hunter. Even if the hunter doesn't know much about my past he __**does**__ know who created me and__** why **__he wants to have me captured. I will not allow him to say anything to Megatron about it. He will never know. Never!_

* * *

Sam poked her head into another room and was rewarded by the sight of the pieces of her powersuit lying on a high table. From what she could see they seemed to be in good order. She sighed. _That's a relief. _Then she spotted the green and purple robot leaning over them. She watched, open mouthed, as he picked up a piece and started working on it, trying to take it apart. _No!_

She ducked her head back. _They're trying to take it apart! _she realized, feeling a panicky. _I __**can't**__ let them do that! If they do I won't be able to get out of here alive! _She raised her blaster. "I guess I have no choice," she said out loud.

She stepped into the room and opened fire.

Hook felt an intense heat searing into his leg. He grunted and looked down, spotting a small hole in his leg armor. "Huh?" he lifted his head and spotted a figure in white with blond hair and blue eyes standing in the doorway with a small blaster aimed at him. "Hey! How did you get in here?!"

Sam didn't answer. She ran forward, shooting off more blasts. The beams didn't do much to the Constructicon aside from annoy him and make small burn marks in his armor that really didn't do much damage. He reached down a hand as she got closer, as if to grab her off the floor. She dodged to the side avoiding the big hand and shooting at the appendage. She kept her course on the table where her powersuit lay. He grabbed at her again and she jumped out of the way.

She glared up at the huge head glaring down at her. She met his gaze for a moment then looked away and jumped up, grasping the very edge of it with her left hand, while still shooting off pot shots with her right.

Hook was reaching the end of his patience. He had had about enough of this little flesh creature trying to blow him to slag with her inferior weapontry. Putting up a hand he blocked a blast to his head and reached for her with his other.

She saw it coming and quickly shoved the gun into her belt and swung herself back and forth a few times. When she got enough momentum she let go of the edge and threw herself upward, landing easily on the table. Hook's hand brushed past her, missing her body by mere centimeters. She felt the air flow blow her hair to the side and realized how close to being grabbed and possibly crushed she had come. She quickly shook the thought out of her head and focused on her powersuit, which lay in pieces a few feet in front of her.

Wary of the Contructicon reaching for her again, she launched herself forward, dodging the giant robots hands but keeping her course. If she could only get to her suit this guy would no longer be a problem. _Come on, just a little further. _she told herself. _Grab that arm cannon and use it. Even without the rest of the suit it can still function. _

She jumped over Hook's hand when he tried to grab her again and landed just in front of the pieces. She quickly reached down and grabbed the cannon, attaching it to her right arm and hearing it click into the place.

"Oh no you_ don't_!" Hook shouted.

She turned sideways and saw him raising his own rifle. "Not this time, big boy," she said, raising her arm and firing.

* * *

BOOM!

Motormaster stopped when he heard the explosion and turned his head in the direction it had come from. It had sounded like it came from the Constructicon's work area. Just as he did so, Starscream, who had also heard the explosion and had come to investigate it, collided with him and both bots hit the floor in a tangle.

"Ahhh!" Starscream screamed, trying to push Motormaster off. "Get away from me!"

The Stunticon gladly moved away and was the first to stand. He reached down and grabbed the seeker by the throat, bringing his face close to his own. "_I'm_ not the one who wasn't watching where he was going," the Stunticon snapped. "_You're_ the one who ran into_ me_!"

Starscream struggled to get out of the other Decepticon's grip. "Put me down this instant!" he shouted, angrily. "Do you realize who you're dealing with?"

"I know I'm dealing with a whiny little weaslecon who's nothing but Megatron's lap dog," Motormaster snapped. He raised a fist. "How would you like me to rearange that ugly face of yours?"

"Let me go!" The seeker yelled, raising his arm and aiming the nullray at his head. "Let me go at once or I'll use this on you and don't think I _won't_!"

Any other time the Stunticon might have laughed at him for saying such a thing but something in Starscream's expression gave him second thoughts. It didn't look quite right and he'd noticed Starscream's voice was a little different too. This was not the Starscream he was used to. 'Fine," he sad, letting the seeker go. "Whatever. But you should still wach where you're going."

"and you shouldn't stand in the middle of the hall where people cna run into you!" Starscream shot back.

Motormaster but back a retort. Now wasn't the time to be fighting with the whiny seeker. He could deal with him any time he wanted. Right now he had something else on his mind. Ignoring Starscrea, he turned and headed toward the explosion he'd heard earlier.

"Hey!" Starscream shouted. "Don't turn your back on me while I'm still talking to you!"

"Shut you components!" Motormaster looked over his shoulder. "Shut your components!" he yelled back. 'I don't answer to you!"

The seeker glared after him a moment then his curiosity was aroused. Where was the Stunticon going in such a hurry anyway? Maybe it had something to do with what had happened earlier. "I'm not going to find out standing here," he said to himself. "I'd better follow him and find out."

_A/N_

_I might have had the Contructicons personalities mixed up but... there's just so many decepticons its hard to remember how they all act. Starscream's determined to kill Sam now as well because he doesn't want anybody knowing. Megatron is more determined than ever to find out and... things are about to get worse. and Yes I know his name is actually spelled Dead End.  
_


	17. Chapter 17

CHAPTER 16

Sam dove out of the way of the explosion, landing on her stomach on the table amidst her power suit parts. She heard the green and purple robot also ducking for cover then nothing as the explosion deafened her ears for thirty seconds after. When she felt it was safe to lift her head she did so and saw the Decepticon lying face down on the floor. She waited a moment. When he didn't get back up she sighed and looked down at her suit parts. Everything seemed to be fine. None of the parts seemed to be damaged too much. _Thank God he was unable to take them apart, _she thought, reaching down and picking up one of the pieces. _I'd be in big trouble if he had. _She began to put her suit back together, being careful not to put the wrong part in the wrong place. She was almost finished when she heard the sound of running footsteps.

Instantly she froze and dropped the piece she'd been holding, listening carefully. She could make out two distinct sets of footsteps, one slightly louder than the other. _Man! This is definitely not my day! _she thought angrily. _I deal with one problem and another one comes along. I just hope it's not those jets I ran into earlier. Doesn't matter. I'm not going to stick around to find out. I don't have time to deal with them again. _

Glancing back down at the purple and green Decepticon to make sure he hadn't moved she quickly put her helmet back on and jumped down from the table, landing on her feet and running past the down Constructicon and diving into the ventilation shaft.

A moment later Starscream and Motormaster entered the room and discovered Hook lying on the floor. "Hook," Motormaster said, reaching down and pulling the Constructicon into a standing position. The green and purple robot stared at him blankly. "What happened in here?"

Hook didn't answer.

The Stunticon smacked him across the face a few times to bring him around. "Hey, answer me," he ordered.

Light returned to Hook's optics and he stared at Motormaster as if seeing him for the first time. "When did you get here?" he asked.

"Just now," Motormaster replied. "Now answer me. What happened in here? I heard an explosion."

Hook shoved him away. "I don't take orders from you," he snapped, suddenly in a very bad mood. Stunticons always did that to him. "but if you really need to know what happened;here it is. I had a human encounter." he waved his hand at the now empty table. "It came in here and went after the-" he noticed the parts were gone. "Slag!"

"What?" the Stunticon asked.

"That flesh creature took it!" he exclaimed.

Starscream poked his head around the taller Decepticon. "What was it?"

"The parts to that hunters powersuit," he replied. Something came to him. "I bet the human that attacked me was the owner!" Hook at not seen the bounty hunter when she had been brought in earlier, only the parts Megatron had given him.

The other two Decepticons stared at him. This new piece of information didn't make Starscream feel any better. A human? The hunter had been a _human_? He'd almost been beaten by a mere human in fancy armor? _It's bad enough my creator sent a hunter to come after me but a __**human**__?! _"Where is it now?" he asked anxiously.

Hook looked at the seeker. "How should _I_ know?" he asked. "I didn't see it leave." he headed over to the computer. "Either way I'll have to inform Megatron about what happened."

"Wait!" Starscream shouted. The other two looked at him. "Don't tell him yet. He'll just be angry. Let's look for it first. Maybe we can find it before then."

The constructicon considered that for a moment then nodded. It was better than risking Megatron's wrath for letting such a thing happen. "All right," he agreed.

* * *

Sam took a brief break while in the ventilation system to check the power status on her suit. She was surprised to find that the power levels had returned to normal but weren't exactly at one hundred percent. They were a little more than half but that was good enough, for now, provided she didn't run into any unneeded confrontations.. _I do find it strange that the power levels are near normal, _she thought. _Why would the Decepticons even raise the power levels if they were taking the suit apart? Could it have been a mistake? Or did they actually expect me to get free and get the suit back in time? _There was no way she could figure out the reason. It was too confusing. _Nothing is making any sense anymore. Something's wrong..._

"Miss Aran." a voice said startling her.

She jumped then realized the voice was coming from her communicator. A small box in the side of her visor lit up and Silverblade's shadowed face appeared. "Silverblade?" the hunter asked, feeling slightly annoyed. "I told you not to contact me until I had him."

"I know that, Miss Aran," the old transformer said. "But I didn't think it would take you this long to contact me."

"I didn't think it would have taken this long," she told him.

"Why is it taking so long?"

"I have had some problems," she told him. "Namely a big grey Decepticon named Megatron. He got in the way before I could complete my mission and I ended up being brought to the Decepticon base. I don't know why but this Megatron wants to know why I am after Starscream."

The shadowed mecha sounded upset as he asked. "You did not tell him did you?"

"No," she replied, sensing panic in his voice. "I didn't go against our agreement but his silent muscle tried to force it out of me." she shivered at the memory. "Luckily somebody stopped him before he could find out anything."

Silverblade sighed and rested his forehead on his fingertips. "This is getting out of hand," he said. "I have half a mind to go to earth and get him myself." when he noticed the look on her face he added. "_If _I was able to."

Sam nodded. It had been years since the large gray mecha had left his moon lab home. He probably didn't even remember how to transform anymore. "This time will be different," she promised him.

"Why do you say that?"

"I discovered that my ice beam works well on metal from your planet," she replied. "I did not think it would work at first but it seems to do the job that my normal firepower can't." She sensed he was interested in that piece of information. "I might be able to capture him using it. I almost did before but Megatron got in the way."

"You said that you're in their base," he reminded her. "How do you plan on capturing him there? Megatron will surely find you."

She nodded. 'That's not my _only _problem," she said. "How am I even going to get him back to my ship? I'm much smaller than him."

"Remember that upgrade I added to your suit?" he asked her.

She stopped a moment. She did not know what he was talking about. . "_What_ upgrade?"

He shook his head. "While I was working on the upgrades to your ship I had an upgrade added to your suits recharge berth."

"What is this upgrade?' she asked suspiciously.

"It will enable you to bring him back to your ship without any trouble."

"What do you mean?" she questioned.

But he refused to explain. "It can only be used _after_ Starscream is unable to function," he told her. "If you try to use if beforehand it won't work."

"Hmm... Can't you tell me anything else?"

Silverblade's voice grew impatient. "Just don't try using it until you have him offline," he repeated. "That is all I can tell you. Because it won't be useful to you until then. Remember that." and his image vanished.

_Why give me something if I can't use it until I have him defeated? _she wondered, aggravated. _If it can make my job easier why shouldn't I use it before that? _She raised her arm and checked the status on her suit. It was still at about fifty percent. _Before I even think of going after him again I'm going to need to get the power levels up to near one hundred percent to even have a chance. The only think I'll be able to do at this level is shoot at him but not cause much damage. _She clenched a fist and lowered her arm. _Great. Just great!_

* * *

Starscream, Motormaster, and Hook decided it would be a good idea to split up. That way it would take less time to find the human. Splitting up had also been Starscream's idea. It had sounded logical to the others, who didn't really like Starscream anyway, so they had agreed without asking any questions. The real reason Starscream wanted them to split up was, if he happened to run into the hunter, he could kill her without the others knowing. _And now that I know that that thing is nothing more than a human in a high tech powersuit I don't have anything to worry about, no matter how powerful its armory is. _He once again checked the power settings on his own guns, being sure they wouldn't just stun the hunter but actually do the job they had been built for.

The only thing he really had to worry about was the hunter's ice beam. If he could somehow keep her from using that beam he had a chance at beating her. _This time you won't be using that freeze ray to gain an advantage. I'll make sure of that. _

* * *

Sam peeked her head out of the ventilation shaft and looked around herself. She had come out in another room that was illuminated by what looked like giant pink cubes of some kind. _What in Zebes is that? _she wondered, cautiously sneaking out of the shaft and walked over to the cubes. She put out a hand and rested it on the glass, leaning forward so her suits computer could run a scan of the strange substance.

**Analasis complete. Substance identified as Energon. **

_Energon? What is Energon? _she asked herself, leaning closer. She studied the glowing pink substance. _It looks like some kind of liquid. Why would they have so much of this stuff? What do they even use it for? _

She noticed that the stacks of cubes all seemed to have the exact same number in each pile except for certain places where it looked like some of them had been removed. She spotted a lone cube sitting next to one of the piles, as if the ones on top had been taken away and it had been left by itself. The cube sort of stuck out as an oddity. _Somebody could trip over that, _she thought to herself.

Then curiosity took ahold of her and she walked over to the cube. Upon reaching it she stopped a moment to get a better look. The cube was about an inch shorter than her own height and slightly wider than it.She put her hands on it and gave it a push. She was surprised at how easily it moved, as if it weighed nothing. She gave it another push then had to step back as some of the pink liquid sloshed over the rim and onto the floor. _This thing doesn't have a lid?! _she thought. _What the heck?_

She knelt down and collected some of the liquid with her fingers, noticing that it gave off an otherwordly glow even out of the cube. _This is too weird and I should be used to things like this..._

Curiosity once again got the better of her and she took off her helmet and put her hand up to her face. She stick out her tongue and gave the substance a lick. Instanty she realized that was a bad idea. A bitter taste entered her mouth and she started feeling sick to her stomach. Turning her head sideways she spit the substance out. It spattered on the floor and glowed for a moment before darkening. The light went out. She watched it darken then stood up, still feeling sick. _Oh man, I knew that was a bad idea. _she thought, putting and arm around her stomach. _Now I've gone an poisoned myself! Ugh I don't feel so good. _She tried to get up but couldn't stay standing. Her legs gave out and she fell against the cube. More of the the energon spilled out and fell over her. She clawed it out of her eyes and hair, coughing it up.

She staggered to her feet and tried to wipe the substance off her suit. The spill had caused so much to fall that it almost completely covered the entire suit, including her head and neck. _Oh yuck!_

She stepped away from the cube, leaving small pink footprints on the floor. _I got to get this stuff off of me before it does something to my suit. I don't want to lose what little advantage I have because some kind of weird substance seeped into it! That would be awful._

* * *

Megatron poked his head into Starscream's room. He took in the mess the seeker hadn't cleaned up like he'd been told to but saw no air commander. _So Starscream didn't come back to his room to hide after all, _the Decepticon thought, removing his head and letting the door shut behind him. _So then where is he hiding? He can't have gone far, unless he left the base but I doubt he did so. _He folded his arms and leaned against the door. "Now if I was a whiny traitor where would I go? What would I do in a situation like this?" and then it hit him. "Of course!"

He pushed himself away from the door and dashed down the hall. _He let the hunter loose. It might have been an accident but I'm sure he knows that it's loose by now. He'll go looking for it. I have to get to it before he does._

_Wait! _a thought came to him and he came to an abrupt halt. _If the hunter is loose he won't have an easy time finding it anyway... I might be able to find it before he does and still get some other work done before that. _he smirked. _Starscream isn't very good at finding things anyway. _he turned around. _But I am._

He headed back the way he had come. _I never thought to look on Starscream's computer. If it wasn't damaged during his tantrum maybe I'll be able to find out something. _he stood in the doorway to the seekers room again. _I doubt he'd have anything on this creator that he seems to want nothing to do with anymore but maybe I'll find something. _

He spotted the computer, lying on the floor near the desk and walked over to it. He reached down, picked it up, and looked it over. There didn't seem to be any damage to it.

_Good. _He set the computer back on the desk and turned it on, taking in the Decepticon fraction symbol the seeker used as wall paper, then clicking into his files. _Let's see what we can find out. _

* * *

Starscream poked his head into another room, his optics and senses on high alert in case he spotted the bounty hunter. So far he'd found nothing but it was only a matter of time before he found something that told him where she was hiding. He was sure that she was probably looking for him as well and he started to wonder if maybe they might have passed each other without knowing it. _I don't want to retrace my steps so I'd better find something before the others do. _

He scanned the room, taking in the fact that their energon cubes were getting low again. He sighed and was about to pull his head out when he noticed something on the floor. Instantly he tensed and let his optics zoom in one the anomaly. He saw some of the energon had spilled and he also noticed something else. Something that looked out of place. Stepping cautiously into the room he walked over to the spot and knelt down on the floor to get a better look. From what he could tell it looked like tiny footprints. _Human _footprints _That hunter was here, _he thought, studying the marks. _This is still fresh so it couldn't have left very long ago. _he raised his head and spotted more footprints leading out of the room. _It can't be too far from here. If I hurry I'll be able to catch up with-_

"Ah hah! I knew I'd find you in here!" a voice exclaimed startling him.

Starscream jumped then looked over his shoulder. He saw Astrotrain standing in the doorway with his arms folded. "So _you're_ the one who's been stealing the energon," he said, sounding as if he knew it all along.

"What?" Starscream asked, confused. "I haven't been stealing energon."

"Sure you haven't," the bigger Decepticon said, his voice unbelieving. "If it's not you then why are you in here and kneeling down on the floor by them?" he looked away. "Unless you're here for another reason. You waiting for someone.. hmm?"

Starscream was offended and got to his feet. "I'm not stealing energon and I'm not waiting for anyone," he told him in icy tones. "I'm looking for someone and I think I found them."

Astrotrain looked back at him, only mildly interested. "Yeah and who would that be?" he asked.

Starscream almost pointed at the marks on the floor the changed his mind. Astrotrain might view them differently. The bigger Decepticon always did look at things differently than the second in command, if only to get on his nerves.

"You talking about those drop marks on the floor?" he asked. When he saw the look on Starscream's face he added. "It's not like I didn't notice them. Looks like soembody spilled some energon too when they took one of the cubes." he smirked at the seeker. "Am I right?"

"No," Starscream shot back. "and they're not drip marks."

"Then what are they?"

"They're foot-" Starscream stopped himself and turned away. "Oh nevermind. It's none of your business anyway."

"Whatever you say, Screamer," he said.

"Don't call me that!"

"Why not?"

"Because I hate it!"

"I don't really care if you hate it," Astrotrain told him. "You gonna go whining to Megatron because I called you that?"

"No!"

"That's right. You can't. Because he doesn't care anyway."

"Shut up!"

* * *

As it turned out finding any information from Starscream's computer would take some time. The seeker had password protected all his files. Megatron had tried all the obvious choices first then the unobvious choices, then choices that were completely ridiculous but still he could not get it.

**Please Enter Correct Password...**

the female sounding voice of the computer kept repeating. Megatron sighed and leaned back in the chair, resting his cheek on his hand. "Starscream is good," he admitted. "But not as good as I am. I've been hacking into computers longer than he's been online." he leaned forward again and typed in another word. "He's not going to beat me at my own game. Let's see. Let's try. L.E.A.D.E.R. S.T.A.R.S.C.R.E.A.M."

**You Have Already Typed That, **the computer informed him. **Please Enter Correct Password**

"Argh!"

* * *

Sam had succeeded on cleaning the energon spill off her powersuit but the liquid had left a stain that refused to come off. She wiped at it again but nothing else came off onto her fingers. _Darn it!_

"Miss Aran!"

the voice made her jump. "What do you want, Silverblade?' she asked impatiently when the tiny box activated, showing his shadowed figure.

"Have you found him yet?"

"I haven't even had time to find any kind of power source to fully charge my suit yet," she informed him. "How do you expect me to capture your son if I can't even get full power?"

"Ever think of using energon?"

"Energon?"

"It's a power source," he explained. "Maybe it could power up your suit."

"How?" she asked. "I think I found some earlier. It's in liquid form and I can't drink it. I'm not a robot. It would kill me!"

Silverblade was silent for a moment. He had forgotten about that. "Maybe you should look for a recharge berth," he suggested. "There should be plenty of them on that ship."

"I hope so," she said, checking the power levels on her suit again. "Because fifty percent is not good enough. I wouldn't even be able to scratch him at this point."

* * *

"I'm busy right now so could you please stop bothering me?" Starscream asked.

"What could you _possibly _be so busy with?" Astrotrain wanted to know. He put up a hand before Starscream could answer. "Let me guess. You're trying to take over again."

"No," Starscream shot back. "Shows how much _you _know."

"Then what _are _you doing?"

The seeker turned away. 'That is none of your business," he informed the other Decepticon. "Why don't you just mind your own business so I can get back to mine?"

The bigger bot shrugged. "Fine," he said, walking over to the cubes and picking one up. "But just to let you know, Megatron is looking for you."

"I know that," Starscream said through gritted teeth.

"You can't hide from him forever," Astrotrain said walking out of the room.

"Mind your own business!" the seeker shouted after him but he was already gone.

Starscream sighed. Why did everyone have to make things worse? _They don't know what's wrong, that's why. They all just think I'm overreacting. The only people who know what's really wrong are Megatron, Soundwave, Skywarp, and Thundercracker and they all don't know the whole story, though Megatron is determined to find out. Hopefully I can deal with this before he does._

* * *

Thundercracker heard yelling coming from Starscream room. He knew that the air commander wasn't there because he'd disappeared and Megatron was looking for him. His room would have been the first place to look. _So who is in there? _he wondered, walking toward the room and poking his head inside.

He saw Megatron sitting in front of Starscream's computer. By the look on his face he knew his superior wasn't happy about something. "Sir?" he asked.

The gray mecha jumped and turned around, raising his arm cannon and aiming it at Thundercracker. The gray and blue seeker stepped back. When Megatron saw who it was he lowered his gun. 'Thundercracker," he said. "It was only you. Don't sneak up on me like that. It's bad enough when Starscream does it."

"I'm sorry, sir," Thundercracker said, stepping back into the room. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to access Starscreams files," the other Decepticon replied, waving a hand at the screen. "But he's got it password protected and I can't figure out what it is."

"Oh," Thundercracker walked over and stood beside him. He stared at the blinking message for a moment then asked. "Have you tried using his name?"

Megatron glared at him as if he was stupid. "That was the _first _thing I tried," he informed him. "I used every single password I could think of but I'm not even close." he threw up his hands. "For all I know it could be numbers."

"Why do you want to look at his files anyway, sir?" Thundercracker wanted to know his own curiosity aroused. "His computer could just be full of ways to get rid of you."

Megatron waved that off. Even if there was he could just have them deleted. "I don't have time for that," he said. "There's something else I want to look at."

"What?"

Megatron said nothing. He wasn't sure he wanted to tell Thundercracker what he was after. It wasn't any of his business anyway. It wasn't that he didn't trust the seeker he just didn't want to explain himself. Thundercracker wouldn't understand anyway. He'd wonder why Megatron was suddenly so interested. "That doesn't concern you," he informed him.

"Oh," Thundercracker said. "But if it has something to do with what's been happening lately, might I suggest one thing?"

Megatron looked up at him, only mildly interested. "Yes."

"Try using a word that involves this situation," he said, moving away from the screen. "You might just get lucky."

* * *

Sam was careful not to be spotted as she crept down the hall. Since her suit had been stained pink it would be harder to avoid being seen but maybe she'd be able to pull it off anyway. _He suggested I use a recharge berth to get my power back, _she thought. _Which to them is sort of like a bed. That means I would have to look in their bedrooms but I can't tell the difference between bedrooms and normal rooms. All the doors look the same and it's not like they have nameplates. _

She looked up at the row of doors. Some of them had plates of metal at a robots eye level but, since she couldn't read cybertronian, it wasn't helpful. _So much for that. _

But maybe she could make a few things easier. Maybe if she watched for which rooms the robots came out of she'd be able to tell. _That won't work, _she thought. _They don't spend all their time in their rooms. I have to think of something else to make things simpler. Maybe I should contact Silverblade. Maybe he can help me._

"This had _better_ be important," he said appearing on the screen.

"Well I need some help," she told him. "I don't understand Cybertronian. How am I going to know where to look for one of those things?"

The tarnished silver mech sighed. "I would have thought you knew that already," he said. "But, since you don't, give me a minute. I'll send you a translator. Be ready to download it into your suit when it gets to you."

"Affirmative," she said, nodding. "Just don't take too long." _Why didn't he just give that thing to me earlier? Oh yeah he thought I already knew! _

A few seconds later she heard a beeping sound and touched the side of her helmet. In the corner of the visor a small bar appeared showing a percentage as the translator was downloaded. When the transfer was complete the bar vanished and the symbols she'd been looking at changed from Cybertronian to plain English. She read the word "Lab" on the plate.

"Did you get it?" Silverblade asked, his image again appearing on the screen.

"Yes," she replied, staring at the translation on the door. "I think I need to change direction."

"Is there anything else you need?" he wanted to know.

"No," she replied. "I think I have everything I need to finish this now."

"Good," he said, sounding relieved. "Now get back to work." and his image vanished once more.

_A/N_

_Not much happened in this chapter. Sorry about that. I'll make sure something happens in the next one. I currently have a slight case of writers block so I'm not sure what to make happen next. I'll try to come up with something, I promise. Also it's hard to keep all these guys in perfect character.. Oh my poor brain..._


	18. Chapter 18

CHAPTER 17

Sam tore her gaze from the door and retraced her steps. She doubted any of the "bedrooms" would be close to the lab area so she figured she'd try the other direction. Now that she could read Cybertronian characters things were about to get even simpler. _Hopefully one of these guys left their door open, _she thought as another issue came to mind. The buttons that opened doors were about halfway up the wall. To a robot that meant nothing. To a human it was nearly impossible. _I am such an idiot. I hope I will be able to jump high enough to reach it. _Having the DNA of two aliens species sometimes had its advantages.

She stopped at one of the doors and looked up. The translator told her she had found one of the bedroom. A room that belonged to a robot called "Blitzwing". So she'd found a bedroom, but how was she going to get inside? Maybe if she had a running start she'd be able to reach the button.

_Let's try this out first to make sure it works, _she thought, taking a few steps back.

When she had backed up a respectable distance she took a deep breath and charged forward. She had nearly reached the door when she threw herself into the air, her left hand up like a basketball player about to do a slam dunk. Her fingers barely grazed the button that would open the door. She slid down the wall and glared up at it. "Let's try this again," she said out loud. "Only let's move back a little further this time."

She backed away a few more steps and repeated the process. This time when her hand hit the button it smacked it right in the center. She heard a beep and then the door opened with a hiss of stale air. She poked her head into the room, making sure that nobody else was inside before stepping in. To her relief the room was empty. Her eyes focused on the recharge berth, built like a giant bed in the corner of the room. _I guess recharging is kind of like a sleep state for transformers, _she thought, as she walked toward the bed.

She jumped and grabbed onto the ledge, pulling herself up onto the bed. She looked around herself and spotted the charger near the part where transformers put their heads. _So it's kind of like a tanner, _she thought, walking over to it. She looked down at her feet. _Maybe the entire thing recharges them. Does that mean I'll have to lie down to get this done? _She looked back up and continued. _It doesn't matter, as long as my suit gets its power back. Hopefully this won't kill me. _She stopped at the head and looked up at the machine, thinking about the consequences. _I just hope the worst this will do it curl my hair._

* * *

Megatron tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair as he glared at the screen that still shot the blinking insert password message. _He really wants to keep me out, _he thought. _That must mean he's got some very personal things on here he doesn't want me to see. _He considered having Soundwave come down to Starscream's room and trying to hack in but he didn't want anyone else to know what he was doing. _I'll just have to keep on trying._

Thundercrackers words came to mind. 'Try typing in something that has to do with the current issue," he'd suggested. "You might get lucky."

"Maybe that will work," Megatron said out loud. "It might have something to do with that but... what word should I use?"

He typed in C.R.E.A.T.O.R.

**The Password Is Incorrect. Please Try Again.**

"So much for taking Thundercrackers advice," he muttered.

* * *

Sam turned on the power of the recharger and lay down on the bed-like table. Immediately she felt a surge go through her and the little bar on the side of her vision activated and showed the power levels slowly begin to climb. _I hope this doesn't take too long, _she thought, gritting her teeth. _This has ten times as much voltage as mine does. If I keep it on much longer I won't be able to do anything. _

After what seemed like forever the bar reached full power. She sighed in relief and got back up, forcing herself to lean over and turn off the power before the voltage cooked her.

Once the bed powered down she stood up and checked the power status. Everything was normal. "Good," she said, stepping to the edge. "Now that I got full power I can finally finish this job and get out of here." she jumped down from the table and landed on the floor on all fours. "Let's just hope I don't get interrupted this time."

* * *

Starscream walked cautiously down the hall, weary of all and any blind corners. He didn't want anymore surprises especially not from a human in a high tech suit. "It's bad enough it happened once," he said to himself. "I can't let it happen to me again." he poked his head around a corner, looking down the hall to make sure there was nothing there.

Nothing was. None of his comrades or Megatron or the bounty hunter. He sighed with relief and stepped around the corner. _Let's try to keep one step ahead, _he told himself. _Don't get careless and don't think it'll go down easily because it's a human. From your past encounters already know it isn't as weak as it should be. Be careful._

* * *

Megatron was getting annoyed and starting to feel like he would never get into Starscream's files. "This should have been easy," he said to himself. "Starscream isn't supposed to be this smart. You would think by how he acts that he'd be dumb enough to put in something_ easy_." he sighed. "I guess I don't give him enough credit. He _was _a _scientist_ at one point after all."

He leaned toward the screen, the bold black letters still telling him to put in the right password. "It has to be in plain sight," he told himself. "It can't be this hard. Maybe I'm looking at this the wrong way. Let's start from the beginning. The computer requires a password to get into his files. That means his files are private and he doesn't want them seen. That's a good reason but what could be on those files? " he leaned back and put his hand on his chin. "I'm missing something here. That password could be staring me in the face and I don't even realize it.. Starscream doesn't like his creator and he compares me with him. That means he hates us both and most likely wants to get rid of us... I know he wants to get rid of me because he wants to be the leader and probably because of how I treat him..."  
An idea came to him and his fingers flew across the keys. "Maybe this will work. V.E.N.G. E.A.N.C.E." he pressed enter.

**Loading Your Files. Please Wait.**

Megatron's face lit up with a smile. "Now we're finally getting somewhere."

* * *

Sam checked the power status of her suit one more time before activating the charger on her arm cannon. She was not going to repeat the same mistake again. This time she would be totally ready. The only problem with using the charge beam though was that it made a lot of noise when she fired it. It would most likely bring other transformers running. _That is just a risk I'll have to take, _she told herself, cautiously making her way down the dark halls. _Let's just hope I don't run into anybody else while I'm here. I don't feel like wasting my ammunition on anybody but my target. _

Too bad for her things didn't always go the way you want them to. As she snuck down the hall an uneasy feeling came over her. She felt as if she was being watched but when she looked over her shoulder she saw nothing but an empty hall. _I'm getting paranoid, _she told herself, turning her attention ahead of her. _I've run into so much trouble that I'm expecting more of it. _She tried her best to ignore the feeling but it stayed on her until she couldn't take it anymore. She turned around quickly and shot at the air. Something above her exploded and she looked up to see something crashing toward her.

She quickly jumped out of the way and the object smashed into the floor. She turned back around, her arm cannon aimed at the object, ready to fire upon it again. There was no need to. It wouldn't be following her again anytime soon.

She lowered her arm and walked cautiously over to it, half expecting it to come back online and attack her. "I recognize this," she said to herself. "It's one of those smaller robots that Big Blue sent after me. before." she tensed and looked around herself. "If this one was following me the others are probably close by." images of the panther bot flashed through her mind. She did not want to run into that one again.

"But, if _you're_ following me," she looked over her shoulder again the inferred built into her suits visor scanning the shadows for any heat signatures. That thing might have been able to easily hide in shadows but it couldn't hide it's heat signal, even if it stood still. _Don't think you can sneak up on me this time. _She saw nothing so she turned away and stepped over the fallen casseticon.

She continued down the hall, her nerves on edge and her senses on alert.

* * *

Megatron thought he'd accomplished something. The password allowed him to access some of Starscream's files, mostly ones involving overthrowing Megatron which the gray Decepticon deleted. Megatron spotted one file that seemed to be different than the others. The word _Former_ was written under the small sand colored folder icon. "Maybe that will tell me something," he said, moving the mouse and clicking the files.

**PASSWORD REQUIRED, **the computer told him. **PLEASE TYPE IN PASSWORD**_._

Megatron's optics grew wide as he stared at the bold black letters. "What?! Another password?!" He smashed his fist on the computer desk. "Starscream!"

* * *

Sam got a real bad feeling all of a sudden. She stopped in her tracks as a tingle went up her spine. She jerked sideways as a laser beam shot toward her. If she hadn't of moved she would have been dead. She raided her arm and shot at something. She heard an explosion and saw a small spindly robot fall to the floor. "What the heck?" she exclaimed, staring at the fallen bot. "Security droids?!"

The words were hardly out of her mouth when more of the robots seemed to come out of nowhere. The lead droid focused a single eyed stare at her and spoke in a monotone to the other droids. "**Intruder**."

As one the bots lifted their weapons and fired at her. She ground her teeth together and dodged the blasts, realizing that the charge she'd been holding in would have to be used on the droids instead of her actual prey. _Things just never get easier do they? _she asked herself, lifting her arm and letting the charge loose.

The ball of energy left the cannon and shot across the room, hitting the droids head on and taking out the entire fleet. She dropped her arm but didn't have time to allow herself a sigh of relief or satisfaction because she heard more droids coming. Feeling annoyed at the whole thing, she decided not to engage anymore droids and did the next best thing. She turned an ran.

* * *

Starscream heard the noise the security droids were making from where he stood at the end of a long hallway. He stood still for a moment, listening to the sounds of lazerfire, then started running. _There is only one reason they'd be firing at something, _he thought to himself. _An intruder. and the only intruder I know of that's in the base is the hunter. If I find the droids I'll find it. _

Luckily for him none of the other Decepticons seemed to have heard the commotion because he didn't run into a single other bot as he charged down the long hallway. Before he even reached the end he found what he was looking for. The hunter was running toward him but kept on twisting itself around to fire at the droids following it.

Starscream watched this a moment then also fired, but not at the hunter, at the droids.

* * *

Sam stared open mouthed as a large energy beam shot over her head and smashed into the droids chasing her. They exploded, forcing her to dive for cover. She lifted her head and looked around for the person who had saved her. Her eyes grew wide when she spotted Starscream standing a short distance away, both his arms raised and the nullguns smoking.

_What the?_

His gaze fell on her and she froze. "Now that we're alone," he said, his gaze never leaving her as he turned his guns in her direction. "Let's finish what we started." and he fired.

Sam's reflexes went into action, jerking her body sideways and out of the way of the lazerfire. She rolled once then stood on her knees, aimed her gun, and fired.

Starscream ducked at the beam missed him by inches and hit the ceiling near his head. He smirked at her. "Close," he said. "But not good enough." and fired again.

Sam dived out of the way again, her shoulder hitting the wall as she tried to put more space between her and Starscream. _Too small! _she thought, gritting her teeth. _This space is too small! _

She was used to having a much bigger field when she fought creatures. This hallway, wide as it was, was still too small and closed in. Plus there were no places to hide to avoid getting hit, which gave the Decepticon the advantage.

She raised her arm and shot at him again. The shot went wide and hit the wall beside him. He smiled down at her. "Looks like you're getting out of practice," he taunted before firing at her again. "Let me show you how it's done!"

Once again she was forced to dive out of the way. She knew she couldn't keep this up forever. She had to somehow draw him into a bigger area. Only then would she have the advantage she needed. She jumped back a few steps, tying to draw him forward. She fired at him once then took off running.

Starscream, who didn't know what she was really doing, thought she was trying to run away and took off after her. _Looks like you're nothing but a coward after all, _he thought.

Sam looked over her shoulder and felt a sense of satisfaction when she saw him following her. He had taken the bait just like she had hoped he would. _Now to get him to enter a larger area. _she thought, changing course and charging into what looked like a loading area.

Sam passed by a stack of energon cubes the moment she set foot into the room. She glanced over at them and got an idea. She turned on the front of her foot and swiveled around, changing direction and running toward the pile of cubes. Once she was close enough to them she aimed her arm cannon at the stack. _I just hope these things can explode. _she thought.

* * *

Starscream stomped into the room just as a well aimed missile hissed out of the hunter's cannon and struck the pile of energon cubes that were piled at his immediate left. He didn't have time to figure out what had just happened or move out of the way before the stack exploded, sending him off his feet and into the far wall.

His shoulder smacked into the metal wall leaving a small dent as he fell to the floor. For a moment he couldn't move then he forced himself to get up and looked across the room. The stack of energon cubes had been obliterated leaving behind a mess of glass and fire which was already starting to dwindle to a flicker. He stood up, a quick internal scan telling him he hadn't been damaged badly and looked around himself.

The hunter stood about thirty yards away, its arm aimed at him. Instinct told him to dive out of the way as another missile left the chamber and hissed in his direction. He threw himself sideways, avoiding the deadly projectile then twisted around and shot at the hunter. But she was already moving.

Sam played around with the controls on her arm cannon, working quickly to change the type of weapontry she used. She heard Starscream running toward her and turned her body around to fire another missile. _I can't believe that didn't work! _she thought, glancing toward the spot where the cubes had been. _I was so sure they would do the trick. _She sensed another blast being aimed at her and fired first.

Starscream had to duck to avoid being hit by a missile.

_At least I have a bigger space. _She ducked as he shot at her again and once again changed the effects of her weapontry. _Let's try using the ice beam again. But try not to let him know what you're doing. _

Starscream saw her changing course again and head right at him. He smiled to himself, thinking how stupid she was to do such a thing an raised his null gun. But, before he could fire, something blue colored shot across the room and smashed into the gun, encasing it in a crystallization. "What?" he stared at his gun taking in the ice that crept up it and covered the entire weapon and looked up just as she shot another beam at him.

He dodged at the last second and avoided the shot. The wall behind him crystalized with a thick coat of ice.He didn't bother looking at it again and jerked his body again as she shot another beam at him. _It's happening again! _he thought, raising his other arm and firing a shot before the hunter could shoot at him.

Sam dived out of the way of the beam and shot at him again. _Things are going to be different this time, screechy voice!_

* * *

Megatron glared at the blinking message on the screen of Starscream's computer. Just when he thought he was finally getting somewhere, Starscream most private files were protected under another password. _He really doesn't want anybody seeing them, _he thought, stroking his chin. _I wonder why..._

He thought for a moment. Figuring out this password would be much harder than figuring out the one that had gotten him into Starscream's other files. "Now what could this one be?" he asked himself out loud.

He leaned forward and typed in a word. F.A.T.H.E.R.

**Incorrect password. Please Type In Correct Password. **

* * *

Starscream slammed his fist into the ice clogging his left nullgun. When he did, not only ice broke off of the gun but bits of metal as well. He stared at the gun, seeing half of it gone. Fear gripped his spark. if that sort of thing happened when ice was broken it wasn't just ordinary ice. _Liquid Nytrogen!?_ He looked up and saw the hunter aiming at him. Not wanting to end up like his gun he threw himself to the floor, just missing getting frozen.

_Holy primus! If I had known its weapons could do that I wouldn't have let myself get lured into this so easily. _He fired at her, using his other gun. With the fact that her ice beam could kill him in his mind he fought with a different veracity. _There's no way I am going to let that happen!_

Sam had seen what had happened to Starscream's gun when he'd broken the ice off of it and hesitated. She had put the ice beam on full power and now she realized that was a bad idea. _Silverblade would kill me if I killed him, even if it was an accident, _she thought, quickly lowering the power settings on the ice beam. _So much for it being super easy. _She raised her arm again and shot off another beam of ice. "I have a gift for you," she said, changing the arsenal to missiles. "I hope you like it!" and she fired.

Starscream, in his attempt to avoid the ice beam did not see the missile she also fired. As he twisted out of the way of the beam the projectile hit him point blank and exploded, knocking him off his feet and leaving a sparking hole in his chest compartment. He cried out and slammed hard into the floor.

Sam came toward him, her left hand switching the arsenal and power levels on her gun around again. A light started blinking as the charge beam started to slowly reach fll power. Starscream, his hand covering the the wound, stood and fired at her with his right nullgun. He was determined not to go down easily. _I'm going to end this here and now, _he thought. _There's no way I'm going back. No way._

Meanwhile Sam was doing her best to avoid Starscream's firepower. She couldn't shoot anything at him while her own gun was charging up so she was left dodging and running behind metal support beams. This was nothing new to her. She just hoped she could keep it up long enough to use her charge. _He's more determind than before. If I don't take him down now I can say good bye to my carrier. As well as everything else. _she looked down at her arm. The charge was at ninty percent and climbing. _Come on, _she thought, watching the numbers slowly rise to the hundred mark. _Just a few more seconds._

A faint beeping sound reached her ears, telling her the charge was complete... and not a moment too soon! Sam dived out of the way when another line of laser fire shot at her. She got up quickly and turned to fire ten homing missiles at the seeker.Now that the charge was complete she could fight back again.

Starscream tried to dodge but was only able to avoid half. The other five smashed into his frame, exploding and leaving sparking holes. His cry of pain sounded like a dying bird. He shot at her once then chose that moment to make his final mistake in their on going battle.

His optics took their attention off the hunter for a split second to look at the damage to his frame. Just as he did so Sam took her chance and fired off the final shot. He heard the noise and looked up, just as the ball of energy smashed into him. He only had time to let out an agonized shriek before the ball exploded, shattering his frame even more and sending bits of metal flying in all directions.

His body hit the floor with a loud metallic clang and stayed there as shards of glass and metal rained down around him. His optics flickered for a moment, a weird strobe light affect causing the hunter's movements to look jerky for a few seconds then the optics grew dark as he lost all awareness.

Sam stood over the fallen transformer, taking in the frozen expression of shock on his face. She stood still for a moment, her arm cannon still aimed at him, waiting for him to make some kind of move. When he didn't she sighed with relief. Maybe this time she'd finally gotten the job done right.

_I hope so. I would hate to have to fight him again! _she lowered her arm and stepped over to his face, staring into the darkened optics that only moments ago had blazed with red fury. After a moment she turned away and put her hand to the side of her head. "Silverblade," she said into the comlink. "Mission accomplished."

_A/N_

_Finally! Yes! Bwahahaha! Of course it was a bit easier this time since she had time to figure things out. Now you're probably wondering, how is she going to get him out of there? You'll get the answer in the next chapter. _


	19. Chapter 19

CHAPTER 18

"It's about time," Silverblade said when his image appeared on the screen inside her visor. His face, still mostly obscured by shadows, held an expression of relief and impatients. "I was beginning to think hiring you to do the job was a mistake."

She ignored the insult, knowing full well that he was just trying to get her riled. She was used to getting that sort of thing from her clients and learned to pay it no mind. "Well he's not going to get away this time," she assured him, glancing once more at the body of the Decepticon second in command. "But I still have a problem. Now that I got him where I want him how am I going to get him out of here? I mean; he's ten time the size of me. I can't carry him."

"Remember when I said I added an upgrade to your suit?" he asked, knowing it was time to reveal the secret.

"Yes," she replied. How could she forget? "I remember. Mind telling me what it is?"

"It's a molecular transfusor." he replied.

The bounty hunter blinked her dark blue eyes in confusion. "A what?" she asked, having no idea what he was talking about.

"A shrink ray," he told her in simple terms knowing, smart as she was, she was unfamiliar with certain pieces of technology. "You can use it on him and it will make him small enough for you to carry him to your ship."

"Oh." she said, looking back at Starscream. "Really?"

"Yes," he replied. "but I must warn you. It won't last for very long."

"Oh really?" she said, still looking at the Decepticon to make sure he wasn't coming around. So far he hadn't so much as twitched a finger. "How long will it last if I should be so bold to ask?"

"Six hours," he answered.

"Six hours?!" she exclaimed. "How do you expect me to get him out of this place and back to my ship in six hours? Maybe I remind you that my ship is in the middle of the desert and I have no idea exactly where I am!"

His face looked unworried as he said. "If it takes you longer than that, just use it on him again."

"Oh..." she felt stupid for reacting the way she had. He seemed to have everything thought out.. "So how does this thing work?"

"Just like any of your other weapons," he replied. 'The only difference is the ready light is purple."

She looked at her arm and worked at the mechanisms until the ready light turned purple, telling her she'd chosen the right upgrade. "Ah I see," she said, her eyes fixed the the light purple mark.

"Is there anything else?" he asked.

"No," she replied, satisfied. "I'll contact you again when I am on my way back to Cybertron. I don't know when that will be so it might take awhile. I still have to get out of here."

"I await your next message," he said and his image blinked out.

Sam turned to Starscream and raised her arm. "Now," she said, turning on the upgrade. "Let's see if this works."

* * *

Thundercracker was on his way back to his own room when he thought he heard an explosion. He paused, listening intently for a moment. He heard it again only louder. _What in Primus? _he thought.

Just then Skywarp came running down the hall toward him. By the look on his face the other seeker knew he had also heard the sounds. When he spotted the his friend, he came to a stop and asked. "Did you hear that?"

Thundercracker nodded.

"What was it?" he asked.

"I don't know," the other seeker replied. "But I think we'd better find out."

* * *

Sam pressed the fire button and a purple colored light came out of the cannon and surrounded Starscream's body. As she watched, he slowly began to decrease in size, his body seeming to fold in on itself. She watched with fascination as he grew smaller and smaller until he could hardly be seen anymore. Then the light shut itself off.

The bounty hunter lowered her arm and headed toward the spot where he'd been lying only moments before. She looked around, her gaze centered on the floor until she spotted Starscream, now no bigger than a toy, lying on the floor. She knelt down and picked the shrunken Decepticon up, staring at his small limp form. "Wow," was all she could say as she looked at him. _I wonder how he came up with that?_

Before she could even begin to figure this out she heard what sounded like giant footsteps coming down the hall. She froze for a moment, listening to the footsteps draw nearer, then got moving, grasping Starscream's small body firmly in her hand.

_Capturing him was the easy part but getting out of here will be harder, _she thought as she ran. She chanced a look over her shoulder. She saw the other seekers that looked like recolors of Starscream step into the room. She ducked behind a support beam before they saw her. _I still have to deal with every other transformer in the ship! and it won't be easy!_

"Wow! What happened in here?" a voice exclaimed.

She chanced a peek and saw the purple black and gray jet staring at the charred floor where the energon cubes had been stacked. The gray and blue one knelt down and studied the burn spot "It looks like some of our energon supply exploded," he answered.

The other seeker, looking confused, asked. "Can they do that?"

"Not by themselves," the gray and blue one replied, straightening up. She saw him look around himself and take in the damage created from the battle. "It looks like somebody had a fight in here. Whoever they were probably shot the pile of cubes and caused them to explode."

"Why would they do that?"

"I don't know."

"Do you think they're still in here?"

"If they are we'll find them."

The bounty hunter quickly withdrew her head, her mind racing. She had to get out of there before they found her, but how? There was no other exit except the way she'd come in and the two Decepticons were blocking it with their frames. She glanced down at the tiny Starscream she held. _Well I'm not leaving him behind but I can't really shoot anything if I need to if I'm holding him. _She touched the side of her leg. A small compartment opened in it and she dropped the Decepticon inside. _That should hold him. _

She glanced around the support beam again. The other seekers had moved away from the exit and were now searching the room. It wouldn't be long until they found her. She pulled her head back. It was now or never. Stealing her nerves and putting her hand on the firing mechanism of her arm cannon, she made her move.

* * *

Skywarp thought he heard something and turned his head, just as the bounty hunter came out of her hiding place and made a dash for the exit. "Oh no you don't!" he shouted, raising his arm and firing his arm cannon.

He saw the hunter turn at the sound of his voice then duck as the ray came toward her. It hit the wall above her head, exploding in a shower of pink energy. Thundercracker, turned when he heard Skywarp open fire and spotted the woman straightening herself back up and continue her course. He also raised his arms and fired, just missing her head by inches.

"Come on," he said to Skywarp. The other seeker nodded and they came at her, still firing.

Sam stopped running for a second, sizing them up for a moment then raised her arm and fired something at them. Skywarp ducked as a missile shot over his head and hit the ceiling, exploding on impact and filling the room with smoke. As the two seekers tried to clear the smoke away, she turned and ran out of the room, not looking back.

* * *

Silverblade turned off the computer console with a sigh of relief. Miss Aran had finally lived up to her reputation and caught Starscream, like she'd been paid to do. Now all she had to do was get out of the base and bring that good for nothing creation of his back to where he belonged. _He should not have left to begin with, _he thought, leaning back in his throne with a creak of rusted hinges. _Just look how much trouble he's gotten himself into. If he had stayed here he would be safe. _He thought about that for a moment. _If he had stayed here the others wouldn't be gone. All my children would be here safe and away from troubles. If only that fool Megatron had not started this war to begin with! He should have stayed a gladiator as he was originally intended to be. _

He forced himself to stand, turning to look at Cybertron through the window. _Such a pathetic ambition. Why can't the younger generation learn their place? Why can't they just be content with the duties they were given? _

_What if it wasn't just his fault? _a inner voice asked suddenly, breaking into his thought. _What if you're partly to blame as well._

_That is absurd. _he argued. _How is it my fault?_

_You were pretty hard on him the day he left, remember?_

How could Silverblade forget?

* * *

_Past Cybertron's Second Moon. Laboratory._

Starscream stood before Silverblade, his hands behind his back and his head down. He knew his creator wouldn't be happy with him and he was right. But he had to tell what had happened. If he didn't his creator would find out anyway, from somebody who would play with the truth and make things worse than they already were. He couldn't let that happen. it hadn't been his fault. "You did _what_?!" the older mech demanded.

"I'm sorry," he whined, refusing to meet his creator's angry stare. Things hadn't gone as planned after all. "I looked for him but he was gone. I don't know what happened to him!"

Silverblade glared at him. "How could you be so irresponsible?!" he snapped. "How could _either _of you be so irresponsible? I warned you about flying too close to planets you know nothing about! How many times do I have to repeat myself?!"

"I'm sorry," Starscream insisted, forcing himself to meet his creators face. The other mechs optics were hard with suppressed rage. "We were only trying to do you a favor. We only wanted to prove that we could-"

"That you could get things done without me watching you," Silverblade finished, his tone slightly mocking. "and just like_ always _you proved that you can't and now Skyfire is gone, no thanks to you! I knew I shouldn't have trusted you to just get things done and come right back. You just had to disobey orders and do things for yourself!"

Starscream looked away. "I just just wanted to prove that I am just as good as you," he muttered.

Silverblade heard him anyway. "You'll _never_ be as good as me," he told him flat out. "You'll never amount to anything the way you're acting. You'll be nothing but a lab assistant for the rest of your existence." he his back on the younger transformer. "You should learn to be happy with that."

"No," Starscream shouted, suddenly angry. "I will _not_ be happy with that! You can't have created me just for_ that_!"

The older mech turned around again, his expression harder than it formerly had been. "You _don't_ know that," he told him. "and you never will."

"Oh yeah?" he shot back. "Well I'll show you! I'll show you I can be more than just a lab assistant!" he pointed a finger at his creator, his voice tight wth his own anger. "I'll be a leader! I'll even command my own fraction and when I have I'll come back to you and_ throw it in your face_!"

Before Silverblade could reply Starscream turned away from him and bolted out of the room.

* * *

_Present day_

_Throw it in my face.. _Silverblade shook his head, his lip component curling upward in a half smile. "That will be the day. So far his claim is nothing but a dream, an ambition, just like it was all those years ago. Nothing has changed. He's still the same whiny spoiled child that left here that day." that half smile grew and crept across his features, lighting up his whole face in a mocking grin. "Everyone else sees that but him."

* * *

Sam chanced a glance over her shoulder. She saw the two seekers entering the hall and looking around. The gray and black one turned his head in her direction and spotted her. "There!" he exclaimed, pointing.

Both bots resumed the chase. She thrust her arm cannon behind her and fired off a few dozen missiles, trying to keep them back as she ran. _I have to find a way out of here! _she though urgently. _I can't afford to get caught again. Not when I finally have my target in custody. _

She knew she couldn't escape them if she ran at her normal speed because they were much bigger than her and could cover more ground in fewer steps. She needed a boost. _Of course! _she thought when the answer struck her. _I have my speed boaster! _she quickly activated the upgrade and picked up a burst of speed as it activated. _How could I have forgotten?_

Skywarp stared open mouthed as she suddenly seemed to speed up and take off. He stopped running and Thundercracker was also forced to stop or he would have run into the other jet. "What are you-" then he also noticed her taking off. "What in Cybertron? How is she doing that?"

"She's fast for a human," Skywarp commented, watching her become smaller with each step.

Thundercracker doubted she was able to do it on her own and decided accurately that it was an upgrade for her suit that she'd acquired sometime in her past. "We can't just stand here gaping," he informed the other jet, grabbing his arm. "Even if she is faster now we still can't let her get out of here."

"Shouldn't we tell Megatron about this?" Skywarp asked, looking at his friend.

Thundercracker remembered Megatron sitting at Starscream's computer, trying to hack into it. _He might want to know but he also might not be happy if I disturb him while he's busy with something else. _He shook his head. "No." when he saw the curious look on his friends face he added. "It wouldn't make any difference. Besides; if we catch her by ourselves we'll be doing him a favor and he might reward us."

Skywarp grinned. He liked that idea. "All right. Sounds like a plan to me."

* * *

Sam kept on running until she put a huge amount of distance between her and the two jets. When she looked behind herself and, when she could no longer see them, slowed down her pace. _That should buy me some time, _she thought, panting. _It should be awhile before I see those two again, if I see them again. I just hope I don't run into any of the other Decepticons. _She thought about the blank faced one with the mask and sunglasses type optic guard. She gave an involuntary shiver. _and I really hope I don't run into __**him**__. _

She reset the power on her cannon then continued running. _I'll just have to make sure nobody can follow me. _

* * *

Megatron pushed back the chair and got up to pace. So far he hadn't made any progress in getting into the one file. He'd tried every word he could think of, even number combinations, but so far he got nothing. _This one is hard. He must have some real private items in that file..._ he looked back at the screen and watched the "Insert right password" message blink at him in bold black letters. _It can't be __**this **__complicated. For all I know he chosen a small word. It could be something totally obvious that I missed... _he returned to the computer. _It's probably sitting right in front of me, like the other word was... I just have to figure out what it is. By process of elimination. _

* * *

Sam ducked into an empty room. She heard the footsteps of the two jets pass by a few moments later. She sighed in relief. She managed to avoid running into anymore Decepticons but the two jets stubbornly could not be shaken. If she couldn't get rid of them she wouldn't be able to get out of there and back to her ship. _I don't have a lot of time. If this keeps up, Starscream will return to his normal size before I even get out of here._

She opened the compartment and pulled the seeker out. She stared down at the jet resting in her palm. _He hasn't grown any bigger yet. That's good. It hasn't been six hours yet. _She looked back out into the corridor. She saw no Decepticons heading either way. _Good. _ She stepped out of the room. _I just hope the way out isn't that hard to find. _

* * *

"I think we lost her." Thundercracker looked around himself, scanning the hallway for tell tale heat signatures. Nothing.

"How could we lose her?" Skywarp wanted to know, looking over at his friend. "She was ahead of us the whole time."

"That thing she did," Thundercracker reminded him, meeting his gaze. "When she pulled ahead of us and we lost sight of her. That must be when we lost her."

"So what are we going to do now?"

"We're going to retrace our steps and find her," he told his friend, determinedly. "You know as well as I do that Megatron isn't happy that she got away in the first place."

"I know.." Skywarp said nodding. "But what I'd really like to know is why Megatron's not making Starscream find her. It's his fault this happened in the first place."

"Starscream is a coward," Thundercracker reminded him. "and remember how we found him the first time? He doesn't have the firepower to take that thing down and if he did he'd probably run away before he allowed his beautiful frame to be damaged."

"I know," Skywarp snorted, remembering back to when he Thundercracker, and Megatron found Starscream, covered in damage and ice out in the desert. "She's some pretty big firepower such a small human." When he saw how his friend was looking at him he asked. "What?"

"Forget it," Thundercracker said, shaking his head. "Let's just go back the way we came. Hopefully we'll run into her."

* * *

"What the heck? I can't believe this! How did it_ get here_?"

Sam stared into the hanger area of the ship her full attention on a red and yellow ship resting inside. She'd been trying to find her way out when she'd come across the hanger and made her discovery. "That's my ship! But how did they even know where to look? And how were they able to even bring it here?"

She stepped cautiously into the hanger, her senses on alert for any kind of trap or alarm that would give away her presence. _Why would they bring my ship here anyway? _she wondered. _Do they think they'll find something? If they do they're wrong. Every contact I ever had is under heavy encryption. The only way they could ever learn anything is if they hacked into it which isn't easy thanks to the upgrades Silverblade installed into Adam. _Adam was the name of her computer. She looked around herself but still saw nothing that told her she was being watched. _I just hope nobodies inside there right now, trying to hack into the system. _

Suddenly the room filled with the echo of running footsteps. She stood still a moment, listening to them pounding toward the room and trying to figure out where to hide. Then she remembered that she could open her ship by using the controls on her arm cannon. Her fingers flew over the weapon and the door on the ship moved forward and down, the ramp touching the floor. Without even glancing over her shoulder, she ran toward the ramp and boarded the ship.

Skywarp and Thundercracker reached the entrance to the hanger just as the door to the ship closed behind the woman. "Hey look she found it," Skywarp said, pointing.

Thundercracker turned his head too late to see the woman board the ship. The door was already closed. "Where?" he asked.

The other seeker pointed at the ship. "She went inside."

Thundercracker's expression changed. "This is bad." looked away from the hanger. "We have to let Megatorn know."

"But I thought-"

"It's too late now," he cut him off. "She found the ship. If she uses it to get out of here.." he didn't finished the thought.

Skywarp already knew what he meant. He nodded. "You'd better tell him."

* * *

Megatron was in the middle of typing in another password guess when a voice spoke to him through his comlink. "Megatron, sir.."

He put his hand to the side of his head. "This had better be important," he said irritably. The last thing he needed was more interruptions.

"We have a problem," Thundercracker's voice met him.

"What kind of problem?"

"The human bounty hunter, sir," the seeker began. "She has found her ship."

"What?!"

"Skywarp and I were chasing her and she found the hanger where we put her ship," he explained, sounding nervous. "Skywarp saw her go inside." there was a pause. "Should we engage?"

"No." he said. That was the _last_ thing he wanted them to do. He wanted that ship in perfect working order until he could get a better look at it. He didn't need those fools shooting it to pieces in their attempt to get on his good side. "Do not engage. Just make sure she doesn't try to fly it out of there."

"Yes sir."

"I'll be there in a few minutes," he said, already getting out of the chair. Hacking into the rest of Starscream's files would have to wait. This was more important. _The last thing I need right now is to lose my only other source of information. _

* * *

Sam peeked out the side window in the ship. The two seeker jets were still in the doorway, facing her but not engaging fire. They seemed to be waiting for something. She knew, if they had fired at her, the ships security systems would activate themselves automatically and fire back. Though their presents made her nervous she was not going to allow it to bother her too much. She opened the hiding place in her suit and took Starscream out. She stared down at him a moment then moved toward the back of the ship. Even if she was stuck here she could still get something done instead of going crazy, waiting for the Decepticons to fire on her. _And who knows. If they pick up his energy signature maybe they won't bother for fear of harming their comrade._

When she was finished securing Starscream she ran into the ships control room and turned on the power. "**Welcome back, lady**," the computer greeted her.

She half ignored the computer's voice as she looked at the power meter for the fuel cells. It seemed to be only a little lower than when she left it. "Adam," she said, lifting her head. "Run a scan through this ship and find the best course out of here." then she added. "If you've had time to do any snooping through system of this place."

"**I already downloaded the information**," he told her. "**When the purple and sand colored robot brought me here I downloaded all his information without his knowledge**."

She smiled at the computers words. She could always count on her computer to be one step ahead of her. Even when she would have preferred him not to. "Good job," she said. "Now how do we get out of here?"

"**We have to go up**."

She stared at the screen, taking in the diagram the computer had uploaded. "Up?"

"**The way out rises out of the water**," he explained. "**The only way out is to go up through the tower that can rise out of the Atlantic Ocean. But you need a code to activate it**."

"Do you have it?"

"**Negative**."

Her head smacked against the keyboard. _I should have figured that! _"Can't you hack into the computers and get it?"

"**Negative. The computers are more advanced than the ones used on BSL Biolabs. They are impossible to hack into**."

She slumped down n the pilots seat. "I guess this means we'll have to get out of here the old fashioned way."

"**Lady, I would advice against you using the old fashioned way**," the computer said. "**Blowing up theirs ship would not be a good idea**."

Sam had always had a bad habit of blowing places up when she ran out of options. Know she couldn't do that this time meant she would have to come up with another alternative. She glanced back out the window at the two Decepticons watching the ship like sentinels. "Maybe they know. Can you hack into one of them from this distance?"

* * *

"What should we do if she starts shooting at us?" Skywarp asked, never taking his eyes off the ship. So far things were silent. The ship as quite as it had been when they first entered the room the only sound coming from it a slight whirring.

"If she wanted to she would have done so by now," Thundercracker replied, his optics also on the ship but his audio receptors tuned elsewhere. He was listened for the approach of their leader. Megatron had said he would come and deal with this problem before it got worse. He didn't know how he'd do so. _Especially when the female is inside the ship and we cannot get inside. _

Suddenly Skywarp noticed something. "Ummm, Thundercracker..."

The other seeker looked at his friend. Skywarp was staring at the ship as he'd been doing for the past few minutes but this time his expression had changed. Something was wrong. "What?"

"I'm picking up an energy signal," he said, his optics still fixed on the ship's red and yellow hull. "From inside the ship."

"So?"

"It's a Decepticon signal," he replied, now looking at Thundercracker. "and it wasn't there before."

_A/N_

_About the shrink ray... remember the episode Micro-Bots? Where Perceptor shrank himself, Bumblebee, and Brawn? I got the idea from that, only Silverblade, being a scientists as well as an inventor created one that was portable and can be used as an upgrade. Just incase you think I'm jumping the shark with that one I felt I should remind you that the cartoon writers did it first. XD I didn't want to prolong her stay in the base so... I let her find the ship quickly. Sides, it sounded logical that Megatron would bring the ship to the base..._


	20. Chapter 20

CHAPTER 19

Thundercracker stared at the other seeker. "What?" he demanded. He wasn't sure he had heard him right.

"I detected an energy signature," Skywarp replied, not taking his optics off the ship. "I think it's Starcream."

"Starscream?" he asked. "How did he get in there?"

"I don't know," Skywarp replied, looking at his friend. "But he wasn't there a minute ago and, unless he was somehow able to get my teleporting ability, he should not be in there."

Thundercracker shook his head. He didn't know how the air commander could have gotten into the ship but that little techno geek always had his ways. It was just strange that he didn't seem to be moving around. "Mention it to Megatron when he gets here," he said to Skywarp.

"Would it matter if I did?"

"I don't know." It was hard to predict if Megatron would care if Starscream was captured by the human or not. Sometimes it seemed like Megatron _did _care when something bad happened to him. Other times it didn't. It was hard to figure out. But maybe he would this time.

**"Hacking from this distance is impossible,"** Adam told her.

Sam was disappointed. She was hoping for an easy way out of this. If Adam could not hack into the Decepticons to get the code she would have to use her only other alternative, even though Adam did not like the idea and already had advised against it.

She didn't like it that much either, but what other choice did she have?. She didn't know how far below the ocean they were. For all she knew they were so far down her ship would be crushed under the pressure. "So am I going to do?" she asked herself out loud. She'd gone through so much just to get that annoying Decepticon jet and now, when things seemed to be going right for a change, she was once again stuck.

"**Maybe you can use that robot to your advantage." **the computer suggested.

"How?"

**"Threaten to destroy him if they don't let you out."**

She almost laughed at the suggestion. She knew for a fact that the robot she'd gone throgh so much trouble to get was one that the other robots didn't seem to like that much. If she threatened to destroy him they might just encourage her. "It won't work." she said flatly.

"**It was only a suggestion**." Adam sounded annoyed.

She shook her head. "Don't worry about it," she said. "I'll think of something." she turned her attention back to the Decepticons outside. They were still there and didn't seem to have moved an inch since she last looked at them. "Well they don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon," she said to herself. "I wonder what they're waiting for?"

"What's the situation?" Megatron asked when he arrived a short time later.

Both seekers looked at him for a moment without speaking before Thundercracker said. "The human is inside her ship." he pointed toward the red and yellow ship in the hanger. "We couldn't stop her from getting inside."

Megatron looked at him carefully. He knew that much. Something told him there was more to it than that. "What else?" he asked.

"Starscream's inside the ship as well," Skywarp said before his friend could stop him.

Megatorn looked at the black and gray seeker then at the ship. "He is?"

They nodded.

"What's he _doing_ in there?"

"We don't know." Thundercracker explained. "But he wasn't there a few minutes ago and now..."

Megatron turned his attention to the ship. He too picked up Starscream's energy signature but couldn't make anything of it. "Why hasn't he moved?" he asked out loud.

"We don't know that either," Thundercracker said. "But I think it might have something to do with the human."

"What about her?"

"Maybe she used some kind of immobilizer on him..."

Megatron looked back at him. His expression wasn't very happy. "That is ridiculous," he objected. "There's _no way_ that that human could immobilize him with anything."

"But what about when she-"

The older Decepticon waved him off. He didn't want to be reminded again about the humans huge arsenal. Starscream had been her target from the beginning, they all knew that. Having discovered that she'd finally accomplished her mission didn't make things any easier. He still had no idea what this was about and he hated not knowing. For the moment he still had some kind of advantage because the ship hadn't moved since the woman had entered it.

_She can't get out of here without the right password anyway._

He looked back at Thundercracker and Skywarp. By their expressions he knew they were waiting for him to tell them what to do. Attack the ship, even with the knowledge of Starscream being inside, or think of a better way to deal with this problem. For the moment Megatron had no idea what to do.

Soundwave continued to work on the broken control panel. He'd been ordered to salvage what he could from what he'd downloaded from the hunters mind and so far nothing had come up. That didn't mean there wasn't anything there. He'd been around computers long enough to know that just because the console was broken it didn't mean that the hard drive was broken. If Starscream's nullgun didn't fry the system he might be able to pick up something.

After a few hours and still not finding anything he almost considered giving up. Before that could happen the screen lit up and the blurred image of the thing from Sam's mind appeared on the screen. He looked at the image and stepped back to get a better look at it, a feeling of satisfaction coming over him. He'd been able to salvage something after all but the blurred image wasn't going to satisfy Megatron. He didn't even know what this thing really looked like or what it was. It looked like a black blob against a dark black background.

Soundwave put his hand on his chin, thoughtfully. Maybe he could get this image to clear up enough to make out what it was. He knew he could do it, it would just take time. He turned his attention away from the image and went back to typing, activating a program that would clear up the image. Things were starting to look up.

Sam looked out the window again and saw that Megatorn had joined the two jets. "Just perfect," she muttered angrily. This was the last thing she needed right now. _I just hope he doesn't try anything. _She wasn't sure if he would attack and, if he did if, the shield would hold out, at least for awhile anyway.

Even if he did decide to attack the ship he would not kill her. She knew something he wanted to know. Until he got that information she was still useful to him, unless he found some other way to get it, which so far he hadn't, judging from how quickly he'd arrived on the scene. She glanced toward the doorway that led into the cargo area where she had Starscream.

If she informed him that she had his air commander in there with her would he hold back? She shoot her head._ Probably not_. Those two didn't get along anyway.

_But he's still one of his soldiers so maybe..._

"Megatron?" Thundercracker said after a long silence. The older Decepticon looked at him, his expression thoughtful. "What do you want us to do?"

"At the moment, nothing."

"Nothing?" The jet looked surprised. Since _when_ did Megatron not want to do anything about a problem? That didn't make sense. Usually he'd think of a solution for something right away. This situation must be different somehow.

"We cannot do anything about this while Starscream is inside the ship," he told the other seekers. "We cannot risk damaging one of our own."

"I could teleport into her ship and get him out," Skywarp suggested.

Megatron shook his head. 'That wouldn't be a good idea," he told him. "For one thing that ship has a good security system. Blitzwing had to get repairs done after he brought it here. And second the interior is not big enough for more than one transformer to be in there at a time." He looked back at the ship. "We will have to think of some _other_ way."

Thundercracker and Skywarp looked at each other. They had no idea what to do and had no suggestions. Both looked back at the ship. aside from a low humming noise coming from the engines it was silent. "Would trying to contact the human do any good?" Thundercracker wanted to know.

Sam mulling over her current problem when Adam spoke up suddenly. **Incoming Transmission. **

_Now what?_

For a moment she thought it was Silverblade trying to get in contact with her but she knew he wouldn't try to get ahold of her so soon. She'd promised to contact him when she was on her way and at the moment that was impossible. _So __**who**__ is this? _

She pressed the **Accept** button and Megatron's features appeared on the screen. "Bounty huner," he said.

For a moment she was taken aback. How had he gotten past her computers safe guards? How did he know he could reach her at this signal? _He's better than I thought. _

She quickly got over her shock and demanded. "What do you want?"

"I want you to give up this pathetic escape attempt," the gray Decepticon told her. "I also want you to release my second in command."

_And what will you do if I don't? _"I am afraid that is impossible," she told him, calmly. "You see, I cannot leave without him. I am under a contract. If I give him back I will have a higher power on my case. Besides," she smirked. "I thought you'd be _happy_. I'm taking a current problem off your hands. If you let me out of here you won't have to worry about said problem anymore."

For a moment Megatron said nothing, as if he was letting what she said sink in. Then he said. "Said problem is more of a nuisance than any kind of danger," he informed her. "and I don't need help from outside to take care of it if it gets to be a threat."

She said nothing.

"Now if you want to live you will give yourself up right now and hand over your prisoner."

She almost laughed. "You will not kill me if I have your Second in Command on my ship," she replied. "and if you try it it won't do you any good because you won't find out anything you want to know about him or me or what this is all about." she folded her arms. "I'm willing to make a deal though."

That got his interest. "What kind of a deal?"

"If you let me out of here I won't cause your base or your soldiers any unnecessary trouble."

He glared at her. "I am afraid that will be impossible."

She shrugged, already typing out some commands. "Then I am afraid you leave me no _choice_." and she cut the feed.

"What did she mean by that?" Thundercracker asked, looking at Megatron.

Before he could answer the ship's thrusters activated. Megatron stared at the ship with his mouth open. Skywarp suddenly shouted. "Duck!"

All three bots threw themselves to the floor as the ship shot toward them.

**Lady! **Adam shouted. **What do you think you're **_**doing!?**_

"What does it l_ook_ like I'm doing?" she demanded, leaning forward over the control panel. "I'm getting out of here the only way I can."

**Miss Aran-**

"I tried to do it without having to resort to this," she cut the computer off. "But it didn't work and I knew it wouldn't. Now just mute yourself. You can scold me once we're out of here."

**Samu-**

Sam turned off the volume and returned her full attention to the controls. "Now which wall would most likely lead to the outside and which one would be the easiest to break through?"

Megatron and the other two Decepticons scrambled off the floor and raced after the ship. "We can't let it escape," Megatron shouted.

"What do you want us to do?" Skywarp asked.

Megatron looked back at the black and purple seeker. "Contact Soundwave," he ordered. "Tell him to activate the emergency defenses."

"Yes sir," he said nodding. "But what are you going to do?"

"What does it look like I'm going to do?" he demanded. "I'm going to stop it and I would advice you to do the same!"

Soundwave was making great progress on clearing up the blurred image he'd been able to salvage when Skywarp's voice spoke into his Audio receptor. "Soundwave come in."

Without taking his optics off the screen, he reached up and touched the side of his head. "Soundwave here."

"Megatron wants you to activate the emergency defenses," the seeker said.

Soundwave nodded. He knew what that meant. Their "guest" was trying to escape."Affirmative," he said and cut the feed. His fingers flew over the keyboard. The blurred image moved to a corner of the screen as he entered the defenses file and quickly typed out some commands.

Sam knew something was wrong when she noticed the halls seeming to close in on themselves. _This is bad, _she thought, clenching her teeth together. _This is really bad. _

**Lady, **the computer spoke up. **It seems we have a much bigger problem. **

"Don't you think I know that?' she asked it, as the ship was suddenly rocked by an explosion. "What makes this thing even more of a problem is my ship is a little too big for these halls. I can't get it out of here I can only go straight!. I can't do much of anything, much less turn around."

**You should have thought of that before you tried this, **the computer said condescendingly.

Sam said nothing. She hated it when her computer acted like it knew more than her. It was just artificial intelligence. "At least I came up with _something_," she shot back.

**I am only a computer. I cannot come up with the solutions to all your problems. I wasn't programmed for that. **

"Then stop- Oh forget it," she turned her attention to the problem at hand. The hallway was closing itself off, doors built into the ceiling coming down and blocking any form of escape. So far her ship was able to beat the doors but it was becoming more and more difficult. _He should have just let me escape. Now he's going to regret trying to stop me. _she typed out some commands on the console and the ship's shield activated, surrounding the vehicle in a transparent bubble or reflective energy.

"Adam," she commanded, looking up at the screen. "activate all guns. If anything else shoots at us shoot right back. The power is low so I don't know how long the shields will last. If they fail be ready to fire."

**Acknowledged. **

_All right, Megatron. You started this and I'm going to finish this. _

Megatron had lost sight of the ship but he wasn't worried. The transport was big enough to be spotted from miles away plus its colors made it stand out even more. Somewhere in the distance he heard laserfire and explosions but these sounds didn't make him feel any better. He knew it wouldn't do much, even to a ship that wasn't made of Cybertronian metals.

The only thing that bothered him was the chance that the bounty hunter might use her ship for a battering ram. He doubted she'd fly it around the base, searching for an exit. If it had been him he would have used it to break through the walls. Even though water did nothing to them he did not want it flooding the base. _She is almost more trouble than she's worth. If she didn't know something I want to know I would have killed her by now. _he remembered what Skywarp and Thundercracker had said. _Now she's got my only other source of information with her. If she gets away with him and I can't hack into his computer I'll never find out what this is about._

That's when he remembered something. _Wait a minute. _His final triumph card. _Even __**if **__they __**do**__ get away and I can't get into the computer it doesn't necessarily mean I won't find out. I still have a few hands to play. _

BOOM!

The ship was rocked by an explosion. Sam had to brace herself to keep from falling over. She lifted her head just in time to see the shields flicker then go out. "Rats," she growled, grinding her teeth together. "Adam.. Fire weapons at anything that shoots at us."

**Ackowledged. **

The guns at the front of the ship zeroed in on the security weapons and fired a long stream of energy along the wall. Guns exploded as the ship passed by, taking them out.

Skywarp had teleported in front of the ship to try to stop it. When he saw its guns point at him vanished again before the things could give him any kind of damage. When he appeared again he found himself behind the ship. He aimed his guns at the ship but couldn't fire because the ship got off a few shots first and sent him flying into the wall.

"That should take care of him for awhile," she said, smiling slightly when she saw this screen. "Now let's get us out of here. When we reach the end of this hall don't bother taking the next corner, blast through the wall."

**Acknowledged.**

The wall loomed closer with each second. She braced herself for the collision. _I'll be so happy when I get out of here. _

Megatron was still trying to locate the ship when he heard what sounded like the worlds loudest bomb going off. It was so loud it rocked the entire base, knocking him off his feet. "What the-"

Suddenly a huge torrent of water washed down the hall toward him. He stared at the water a moment then got up and ran forward, his feet splashing in the sea water. if there was water in the hall that must mean...

He stopped at stared at the damage ahead of him. Something had blown a humongous hole in the far wall. Gallons of water were pouring in, flooding the hall. This could only mean one thing. The hunter had escape. Before he could do anything a column of water shot in through the hole, knocking him back.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Soundwave knew something was wrong before the alarm started going off. **WARNING! BREECH! WATER LEVEL RISING!**

He quickly typed out a few commands and any doors leading into that hall clanged shut. "Soundwave," Megatron voice spoke into his commlink. Something was wrong. The Decepticon's voice sounded funny, like he was under water.

"Yes, Megatron." he said, putting his hand to the side of his head.

"Turn off the security system," he said in that gurgley voice. "The target got away."

This was bad. Without the human there was no way of finding out what this was all about. Still... why did Megatron sound so calm about it? Something didn't feel right.

He looked up at the computer screen. The machine had cleared up the blurred image the best it could and now he saw what looked like a giant silver colored jet transformer staring back at him with a sad expression on his tarnished face. He had never seen this transformer before.

_A/N_

_I really really don't like this chapter that much. I've been having a real hard time putting parts like this together. I did not know how I was going to get her and her ship with Starscream out of the base. This was all that I could come up with but it sucks. I just hope the next chapter comes out better. Ugh... why does this always happen to me?_


	21. Chapter 21

CHAPTER 20

The first thing Sam saw when her ship broke out of the Decepticon's base was water. Gallons of gallons of dark blue water. The second thing she saw was a school of fish that turned and swam the other way when she got close to them. _So their base __**was **__under the ocean. _she thought, staring out at the aquarian world beyond her windshield. _That explains a few things._

**Lady, **Adam spoke up. **May I advice getting out of here before the Decepticon's external security shoots us down? At this very moment fifty guns are aimed at us.**

Sam snapped out of her thoughts and pressed a button on the console. She zoomed in on the Decepticon's base. The screen lit up with warning signs. "Yes," she said, already moving. "Let's get out of here!"

The ship was hit by something and shook on impact, nearly knocking her out of her seat. She knew without Adam telling her that the Decepticon's guns had opened fired. She righted herself and typed out a few more commands, activating the ship's thrusters. Before another shot could be fired, the ship was no longer within range. She yanked on the controls and tilted the vessel until it was in an upward vertical position. _Time to put this behind me._

_--------  
_

Megatron had been sucked out of the base when the water had come flooding into it. For a moment he floated, disoriented, then got ahold of himself and descended to the ocean floor. He heard the muffled sounds of explosions and looked up. The hunter's ship had been struck by missiles from the automatic defenses but didn't sustain much damage. Probably because its shields were up again. Before it could be fired upon again it shot away from the base.

That's when he'd contacted Soundwave and told him what happened. The Communication's Officer answered him in his emotionless voice then said something interesting. "Salvaging complete."

He didn't understand what he was talking about. "What?"

"Salvaging complete," the other Decepticon said again. "Image found clarified."

That's when he realized what he was talking about. "What is it?"

"Important," Soundwave replied. "Must see in person."

_Interesting. _"I'll be right there," he said, already on his way back to the base. "Contact the Constructacons.. Tell them to fix the damage that hunter did to this wall."

"Affirmative."

-------

A few minutes later Sam's ship shot out of the water and hovered over it for a few moments so she could regain her bearings and get used to the altitude. She looked out the windshield, all she saw was ocean surrounding her on all sides. _I wonder which ocean this is?_

**Lady, **Adam's voice spoke up. **May I advice leaving the planet before the Decepticons decide to chase you?**

That sounded like a good idea. The last thing she needed was for them to overtake her and find out where she was going. "Get us out of here."

**Acknowledged. **

The thrusters activated and the ship shot up into the atmosphere. When they finally reached deep space Sam said. "Adam, contact Silverblade."

**As you command.**

A few seconds later the tarnished silver mech's face appeared on the screen. "Miss Aran," he said. "You are contacting me. That must mean you have safely left the planet with the brat."

She nodded, taking off her helmet and shaking out her long blond hair. "Yes," she replied. "But not without a few complications. The Decepticon's were determined not to allow me to leave."

"But you have," he pointed out.

"Only because of luck," she informed him. "and because I had to resort to destroying part of the base to do so." she smiled slightly at the memory. "They're not going to be too happy about that."

He took this news without reaction. "Have you been followed?'

"Negative," she answered. "I got away too fast for that."

His face said he didn't believe that but he said nothing about it. "Good," he finally said. "I will have the rest of your pay waiting for you when you arrive."

"Speaking of pay," she said, deciding this was as good a time as any to make her demand. "I believe a little extra should be given to me for all the time and effort I was forced to waste with this whole thing. and your son did not help."

He frowned at her, not liking what she was suggesting. "We'll discuss it when you get here." he said and the screen went blank.

-----------

Silverblade leaned back in his seat, feeling much better. The bounty hunter had finally finished the job and all she needed to do was get him back here where he belonged. _Too bad for him that his welcome will be anything but warm. _He grasped the armrests and clenched his fists. Metal screeched as it was squeezed into a new position. _Let's see what you have to say for yourself, son._

_-------------  
_

Megatron walked into the control room half an hour after Soundwave had told him he'd found something. He would have been there a lot sooner but getting back inside proved to be a problem because all the exists had been sealed off to keep the water out, and he'd been forced to bang on one of the doors. Dirge had heard the noise and let him back in. The poor seeker got an earful for not opening it for his supreme leader faster.

"What did you find?" he asked, walking up behind the Commnication's officer.

Soundwave pointed at the screen. 'That." he replied.

The other Decepticon lifted his head and stared image. Though the picture was still somewhat blurry, he could make out a silver colored meche frowning back at him with disapproving red optics. Megatron did not recognize him. "Who is this?" he asked.

"Identity unconfirmed," Soundwave told him.

Megatron looked at him sharply. "_What?" _he demanded. "Isn't he registered in the archives?"

"Negative," Soubdwave told him. "I already looked. Residents unknown."

Megatron let that sink in. So he knew who had hired the human he just didn't know who or where it was, and that's where his trump card came in. "But we will find out soon," he said.

Soundwave looked at him curiously. He noticed his superior was smiling. What did he know?

"The human does not know this but I placed a tracer on her ship, just in case she managed to accomplish her mission," he explained, stepping up to the control panel and typing out some commands. "So, wherever she takes him, we will know and be able to follow." the image of the silver robot vanished off the screen and another image activated. A map of space and a blinking light. "Let's see where she's headed."

-------------

Starscream's optics flickered online. He stared up at a drab gray metal ceiling. He didn't know where he was, but he did know his arms and back hurt. He tried to get up but something held him down. When he tried to turn to see what it was he found he couldn't even do that. Looking at him feet told him everything he needed to know anyway. Pink bands of energy held them together and, no matter what he did to break them, he accomplished nothing. For a few seconds he was confused because he had no idea how he'd ended up that way, then it all came back to him and he gasped.

_No!_

Turning his head to get a better look around confirmed his fears. He was in the cargo hold of a ship he'd never seen before. He had no idea how he got there or where he was.

_The human couldn't have brought me here herself. Did she have help?_

That wasn't a nice thought to entertain. It made him wonder if one of his comrades had been in on it. He denied it but he would never be sure. What if one of them had? _That doesn't make sense. _

He didn't have very long to think about it. He heard a door opening and turned his head toward the sound. A few seconds later the bounty hunter stepped into the room. He noticed right away that she wasn't wearing her powersuit. She was once again in that white full body outfit.

Sam could feel his red optics boring into her as she walked into the room and didn't even have to look at his face to know that he was angry. She didn't care. He'd caused her more trouble than he was worth. He should be happy she was bringing him to Silverblade alive. She lifted her eyes and met his optics, making no comment. _You're angry so you start the conversation. Now that I have you I can tell you the whole story. _

"What do you want with me?" he demanded.

Stupid question. She gave a careless shrug. "I don't want _anything_ with you, Screamy," she told him. "If this had been _my_ idea you would be dead right now.. or at least offline." she added.

Starscream ignored her comment. He wanted answers not insults. "Then who put you up to this?" he demanded.

She smiled. "Your loving father," she replied, her voice loaded with sarcasm. They both knew _that _wasn't true.

_I knew it. _"Why?"

"I don't know," she told him. "I just capture things for people I don't ask why they want them. When we get there why don't you ask him?"

_Because that would do no good. _"Why would he hire somebody to come after me?" he asked her. "Why couldn't he have come after me himself?"

"I don't know."

"I do," he said, his optics flashing with distaste. "He's a coward. He always was. A coward and a control freak. He only sent somebody else to get me because he knew if he came up against me himself I would have killed him."

"That's not a very nice thing to say about your father," she cut him off. "Besides, I thought you wanted to show him that you could become something and throw it into his face."

He said nothing but his expression betrayed his surprise. How did she know that? _Did he tell her? Why would he tell her that? Just because he sent her after me doesn't mean he has to tell her everything about me!_

"Personally I don't really care about your little spat," she said, shrugging. "It's not my problem. Once we're there and he gives me my money it'll be out of my hands." she folded her arms. "and he can do whatever he wants with you."

That was the _last_ thing he wanted. This hunter didn't seem to realize what she was doing was a mistake. He was too valuable to be put offline, at least that's what he told himself. For real he wasn't so sure. Megatron could be happy that he was gone, because he had always come off as a nuisance. What if he didn't even care that this had happened? What if he was _glad_?

_No, _he told himself. _Even though he doesn't like me, he wouldn't just let them take me and keep me... _and then he remembered back to all the times Megatron had left him after a battle. He wasn't sure if he did so because he knew Starscream would come back himself or because he hoped that he wouldn't. Thinking about it didn't make him feel any better. _He'd __**better**__ come after me!_

But Megatron didn't even know where they were going. If Megatron wasn't going to get him out of this he would have to do so himself. He looked back at the human who was looking him over, her eyes betraying a mild fascination. "So my creator paid you to capture me did he?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied. "Half in advance."

He laughed. She frowned. What was so funny?. "That amuses you?"

The Air Commander stopped cackling long enough to say. "Don't expect to get the rest anytime soon."

"What do you mean by that?"

He looked away from her, smiling with satisfaction. She'd reacted just the way he thought she would. "Silverblade isn't the most trustworthy transformer," he told her. "He doesn't always keep his end of a bargain. What makes you think he'll actually pay you the _other _half? What makes you think he gave you the _first_ half?"

"Because he gave it to me already, that's how," she informed him. "He showed it to me."

He laughed again. "For all you know it could be fake," he shot back "My creator might be a cowardly scientist but he doesn't part with currency too easily......"

"Shut up!" she cut him off. "I know what you're trying to do and it's not going to work. Why should I believe you anyway when you always lie to get what you want?"

He looked back at her. "_Where_ do you think I learned it from?"

-------------

Silverblade knew that Sam wouldn't arrive for another twenty four hours. While he waited for her return he went over what he was going to say to his ungrateful creation. _He'd better have a good explanation for this. _he thought, pacing. _I want to know why he did what he did. All of it. If he doesn't tell me willingly I'll __**make **__him tell me. _The thought of torturing his own creation would have startled him years ago but now he no longer cared. Such thoughts were a welcome change. He once again looked at the remains of his other "children" which were scattered on the cold metal floors. _Soon_ _I'll have your brother back and make him pay for what he did to you. Soon.._

"Do you really think this was his fault?" a soft voice behind him asked.

He gasped, startled, and turned around. A figure stepped out of the shadows. He knew who this was. "Silv!" he exclaimed. "I thought-"

"No," his daughter said, shaking her head. "I did not die. I left."

She _left?_ Why would she do that? "Why?" he asked, surprised.

"You want to know why?" she asked, sounding surprised that he would ask such a question. "Because Starscream was _right_."

"What?!"

She waved her hand around the lab. "This place was like a prison," she told him. "A prison _you_ created. You wanted us to work here and live here with you but when we were old enough to think for ourselves you wouldn't let us go. You refused to let us go!"

"I didn't want you to get _hurt_!" he protested.

She shook her head. Such hollow words. "You hurt us by making us _stay_," she shot back. "and that's why we wanted to_ leave_. You built us with free will, unlike the drones at your beck and call, but wouldn't let us be _free_. Why create something that is free thinking if you won't let it do what it feels it should be doing? Why build transformers that are living beings if they're not allowed to _live_? Why even give us emotions?"

Silverblade was at a loss for words. He didn't know what to say to her. Instead he got angry and demanded. "Is that what _he _told you?" focusing all his anger on Starscream.

She shook her head. "No," she said. "I figured that out for _myself_."

"Then _why _have you come back?"

"I thought you might have changed," she replied. Her face became sad. "It looks like you haven't." she started to go but looked back at him long enough to say. "If you haven't figured it out yet you will. Something _else_ will happen that will make you realize what you have been doing all this time is wrong. It might just be the one person you never had any respect for. The one person you blame for your children leaving you from the very beginning."

He stared after her as she walked away. "Wait!" he called after her.

She stopped but didn't turn around.

"Who would that be?"

She looked over her shoulder, her strange purple optics flashing slightly as she said. "Megatron himself."

------------

Sam glared at Starscream. His face held an expression that told her he knew more than she did about her client. She hated when she didn't know everything about the people that hired her. She was not going to ask him about it. _If you think I'm going to ask, you got another thing coming. _She folded her arms and turned away. "If he does pull one over on me he will regret it," she told him. "I am _not _one to let such things slide. Just like I don't tolerate my own failures. That's why I'm so good at my job. I don't give up that easily."

He knew that first hand. What bothered him was _why_? Why would she, knowing all her limits and disadvantages because of her species, go through so much to capture something five times her size? Did she have a suicide wish? Or didn't she really care?

"Why would you?"

"Because I can," she said shortly. "Because it's what I _do_. Because if I _don't_ nobody else _will _and because it pays."

"You also have a death wish," he added, mockingly.

She turned around sharply and pointed a finger in his face. "Do you think you're the only thing I've ever gone through this much trouble to capture?" she asked. "Because you are_ not_. I've had much harder jobs before."

He didn't believe it. "Such as?" he wanted to know.

The last thing she wanted to do was tell him about herself. It wasn't any of his business and she already knew he didn't really care anyway. "That," she said after a moment. "Is none of your business."

"So you're not worried that could die doing something like this?"

"No I am not."

"But what about me?" he asked, suddenly.

"What _about_ you?" she demanded. "Why should I worry about you anyway and why should you care if I don't get paid or if I die doing my job? Why are you even asking me all these questions? I thought you only cared about _yourself."_

Well that was true enough. The only reason he was bothering to speak with a human was because he figured he could use her. Maybe he could place some doubt and suspicion into her mind about his creator. After all, he knew more about Silverblade than she did. But she didn't seem the type to fall for things that easily, especially since the one saying those things had taken her forever to capture. Why should she believe him? For all he knew she was as sick of him as he was of her. If he had been in her place he wouldn't have believed him either.

"So what about you?" she asked again.

"You are a human," he said, choosing his words carefully. "Unlike me you were born will all the positive, caring emotions. I only have what was programed into me when I came online."

_Not true. You're forcing yourself to become braver. You are going against your own programming. This means you have overridden it. I doubt Silverblade would have put that into you at activation. _"So?" was the only thing she said out loud.

"You do know what he's going to do with me," he said. "You said so yourself."

She was getting impatient. "And?"

"Don't you care in the least that he's going to kill me?" he asked, "Or at least mess with my programing?"

She shook her head. "No," she replied. "I don't care."

He hadn't expected that for an answer. Maybe she wasn't so soft.

"You want to know _why _I don't care?" she questioned. When he didn't reply she said. "Because I would do the _exact_ same thing. You are a machine. You are not like most living beings because you don't have any of the qualities that make one alive. Of course you can be online and you have something called a spark. But you are not living. _None _of you are living. Not even your _creator_ is living. You can be taken apart and you will not die. You cannot die. You can fall apart and get viruses and all of that but you cannot die." she locked eyes with him. "So in answer to your question. No. I don't care if he kills you because you cannot die. I have no reason to feel guilty about it."

For a moment there was silence as what she said sunk in. Her words angered him, not because they were true but because they were _not_. Here was a human being, a creature that lived for maybe a hundred years at the most and she, just like the rest of her kind, thought she knew everything about his kind. _And humans are supposed to be the smartest organic beings in the universe. It is surprising what little they really know. It's disgusting._

She felt his red optics burning into her as she continued to glare at him. Something told her she had said the wrong thing. Though Starscream was in no shape to harm her the way he was glaring at her made her feel as if he had. _You are just as bad.. as him! _his expression seemed to say. _Making assumptions about things you barely understand. Did you think that I was created for __**nothing**__? Do you actually __**think**__ that nothing about me is living? Have you ever __**seen**__ a spark? Do you even __**know**__ what it is? He has one but he does not __**know **__what it is. __**You**__ don't have one so how can you say__** anything**__? You know nothing. And while he understands very little about free will that comes from having a living spark, you know __**nothing at all about**__ a living spark._

She had made a mistake. Nothing that wasn't living could ever show that much hate on their face. Yes, he was a machine but she suddenly found herself thinking that he was a _living _machine. _There is no such thing...._

Then he spoke. His voice had grown low and menacing. 'That," he said. "Is where you are _wrong_."

----------

The blip on the screen had suddenly established a route. Megatron knew that route very well. He'd traveled it himself a few times. His red optics flickered brightly as he said. "I should have _known_ all along." he turned to Soundwave. "Soundwave, contact Shockwave and tell him to activate the space bridge."

"Co-ordinance?" Soundwave asked.

Megatron looked back at the screen. "Cybertron."

_A/N_

_I got some ideas for later in the story but for now I'm still a little low on inspiration. Starscream may be a jerk on the show but his persona sometimes changes around when I'm not looking. Sometimes I wonder if the writers did that on purpose._

_I wonder... should I make Megatron and Silverblade clash if and when they finally meet?_


	22. Chapter 22

CHAPTER 21

"I am wrong?" she asked. "How am I wrong?"

"Because you know _nothing_ about the spark," he replied. "You know nothing about transformers in general. All you can do is assume things."

"So I guess you're going to tell me?" she wanted him to but she wasn't going to ask.

_He_ had no intention of telling her anything about his race. If she wanted to know she should ask the Autobots but he doubted they would be able to stand her either, especially after she told them how she felt about Cybertronians. She just might be the only human even Autobots could not stand.

When he didn't say anything she felt disappointed but also relieved. She told herself that it didn't matter if he told her or not. She knew he was a liar. He'd say anything to get his way. If he'd made any kind of effort make her understand it probably meant he was trying to make her sympathetic toward his plight. She was anything but. _Fine, just don't say anything._

"I might be wrong," she said, as she turned to go. "but that doesn't mean _you're_ right."

"But you will never know that." he reminded her.

She didn't care. "In a few hours it won't matter anyway." and she left, the door sliding closed behind her.

------------------------------

"The Space Bridge will be ready for you in about an hour, Lord Megatron," Shockwave's blank one eyed face stared down at the Decepticon Commander from the large screen above the control panel.

Megatron nodded with satisfaction. "Excellent," he said. "Then it shall be ready when we arrive."

"Affirmative." Shockwave said then asked. "May I be so bold as to ask what you need it for? Are you bringing some Energon back to the planet? We are getting low."

"Not this time," Megatron said, putting a hand on his fusion cannon. "I have other more _important_ issues I need to deal with right now."

Shockwave did not know what he was talking about, but didn't ask. It wasn't any of his business. He would just do what he was told. Megatron would probably tell him later anyway. "I will be waiting," he said before the screen went blank.

Megatron turned his attention to Soundwave. "Soundwave, contact Skywarp and Thundercracker," he ordered. "I want them to come along."

"As you command."

"You're coming with as well," the gray Decepticon added. "So hurry up with that."

--------------------------

Starscream's words echoed through Sam's mind through the remainder of the trip. Even as she tried to discard them, they refused to go away for very long. He was right about knowing more about his creator than she did but that didn't mean he was telling her the truth.

_But what if he does betray you? _a voice in her head asked.

_He won't. _she argued back. _That robot with the voice problem was lying. He just wants me to think my client will. If I listen to him I'll be playing right into his hands. _

_But what if he isn't?_

_I'll find out soon enough, _she thought, leaning forward and resting her arms and head on the control panel. She was suddenly feeling very tired. _If he isn't lying and Silverblade does do what he implied I'll be ready...._

-----------------------

"You want us to come with you?" Thundercracker stared at Megatron in shock. He had figured after the two had done so badly when trying to stop the bounty hunter from escaping that he wouldn't want to see their faces for a very long time. Him wanting them to come with him to Cybertron was surprising, and why did he want them to come anyway? He hadn't told them that part. He'd just said. "Thundercracker, I want you and Skywarp to come with me to Cybertron, be ready in ten minutes."

Megatron gave him a look. "Yes I want you to come with me," he said. "If I didn't I wouldn't have told you to get ready, now would I?"

"No sir," he said, shaking his head. "But I thought-"

"Just be ready in ten minutes," he cut him off.

"Yes, sir," Thundercracker said as Megatron stepped out of his room.

"What was that about?" Skywarp asked from behind him.

The blue and gray seeker turned around. The final tail of purple light from Skywarp was just vanishing as he said. "I told you not to sneak up on me like that."

"Sorry," Skywarp said, shrugging. "I forgot. Now what did he want?"

"Megatron wants us to go to Cybertron with him."

Skywarp was surprised. Like Thundercracker, he thought Megatron wouldn't want to see their faces for awhile after they had failed to stop the human from escaping. "Why?"

"I don't know." Thundercracker said, already moving. "But we'd better get going. He only gave us ten minutes."

Skywarp followed his friend out of the room, grumbling about something under his breath.

-----------------------------------

**Lady.**

The computer's voice startled Sam out of her sleep. She jumped slightly and lifted her head. **We will be arriving in Cybertronian airspace soon. You had better get ready. **

The bounty hunter nodded and got out of her chair, heading to the small living area of the ship and picking up the pieces of her power suit which she'd discarded on the floor near the small shower. _Soon. _She thought as she clicked the pieces back onto her body. _Soon I'll be dropping off that loud mouthed brat and getting my pay. _she sighed, a feeling of relief washing over him. _I will be so glad when this whole thing is over._ She caught her reflection in the mirror. The wound Starscream had inflicted on her was healing nicely but she didn't pay much attention to that. She paid more attention to her face which look tired and ten years older. _That robot just took ten years off my life. _She stared at herself a moment longer then looked away. _It's not like anyone sees what I look like under my helmet anyway. _

She finished with her suit, putting the helmet back over her head, hiding her tired features. _He had better pay me extra..._

----------------------

Starscream didn't need to hear Adam telling Sam their current location to know where they were. He'd sensed it long before the computer had even woken up the human and he didn't even have to see the planet. Maybe he had a link to his creator's spark, he didn't know. He _did_ know he only got that feeling whenever he was near Cybertron. A huge sense of foreboding, which most of the time he could just ignore because it had gotten so small. This time it wasn't though.

_We're here._

He heard the door slide open again then the footsteps of the bounty hunter. They were much louder this time and he didn't even have to look at her to know she was in her powersuit this time. He didn't care anyway. He didn't even want to talk to her anymore. He kept his optics fixed on the ceiling, ignoring her completely. _I don't need you telling me anything and rubbing it in. _

Sam stared up at him, a little annoyed that he wasn't paying any attention to her. _He doesn't want to talk to me and he doesn't want to hear what I have to say, _she thought. _I can't blame him. I wouldn't either. _"We'll be landing soon," she said anyway. "Once we land you'll be out of my hands and your creator can do what he wants with you."

_Why are you bothering to tell me? _he wondered. _It's obvious._

She folded her arms. "So that's it then," she said. "We all know he's going to kill you." she cocked her had when he still didn't reply. "What's this? You're not even going to beg me not to take you to him? You're not even going to try to make a deal?" she shook her head. "This isn't like you."

_How would you know?_

"You don't even have to ask me how I know that's what you usually do," she told him, pacing back and forth. "It's in your programing. You were created to be a cowardly, whiny, poor excuse for a machine. But I can't blame you for that. You couldn't help how you were made." she shrugged and looked back up at him. He still didn't look at her. "You don't have to say anything anyway. I don't particularly care what you have to say anyway. You can play that silent game all you want. It won't help you."

When he still didn't reply she turned away and walked out of the room. "I just hope you're wrong about what you said," she said as an after thought.

"Leave me alone."

She turned back to him, her mouth open as if to retort then thought better of it and stepped out of the room.

------------------------

Silverblade's scanners picked up the bounty hunter's ship even before it appeared on the screen. He'd upgraded the scanners years ago so that they would pick up heat signatures from not only friendly ships but hostilities as well. He'd added the upgrade after he'd discovered his other children dead. He wanted to be ready this time if something like that should happen again.

_Just a little longer, _he thought, turning off the console and getting out of his chair. He stepped out of the room and walked down the hall toward the hanger.

-------------------------------

_Past Cybertron_

"Starscream... Starscream!"

Starscream didn't turn. He wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, especially not his little sister. It wasn't that he had any kind of problems with her it was just that she always asked him questions he could not answer. But, if he didn't answer her, she would just keep on pestering him. "What do you want, Silv?" he demanded, finally turning.

The black and green transformer femme run up to him and grabbed his arm. "Where are you going?" she wanted to know, her face full of worry. She didn't want her brother to leave. "Why are you mad at father?"

Starscream angrily pointed toward the lab, his voice deepened by anger. "Because he acts as if I won't become anything," he told her. "He thinks I'll be nothing more than his assistant for the rest of my existence. I won't stand for it anymore. I will prove to him that I can be more than he thinks I can."

"But that wasn't why he created you," Silv protested, looking up at him with her unnatural purple optics. She hoped to convince him not to leave. "He built you to be a scientist just like the rest of us."

He looked down at his sister, his optics full of pity. She really believed that, but he didn't. It just wasn't right and it didn't make sense. "Do you really think that this is all we were made for?" he asked her.

She could give him no answer.

"There must be more to our existence than what he built us for," he told her. "I refuse to spend my entire existence at his beck and call. We might be his creations but he gave us a free will. He didn't have to do that." he took her hand and gently pride it loose from his arm. 'Tell me. Why would he build us with a free will if he didn't really intend for us to go out and live our own lives?"

Silv just stared up at him, unable to say anything. She didn't know. She never thought about it before. She didn't _want_ to think about it.

"You see," he said. "We don't even know. Well I'm not going to stay here and never find out. I'm going down there, to Cybertron and prove to him that I _can_ become something. Something great, and, when I achieve it, I will come back and throw it in his face!"

--------------------------

_Throw it in his face....._ Starscream almost laughed at the memory. So much for _that _promise. Thanks to Megatron and that bounty hunter he would never be able to accomplish it. After today his existence wouldn't matter either, Silverblade would see to that. It was a good thing Silv would never see it either. She would just laugh at him.

He shook his head, clearing such thoughts out of his mind. He couldn't just give up. He'd never given up before, even after he'd been beaten down. This should be no different. _It shouldn't be too hard for me to get out of this. Just as long as I don't let anything he says intimidate me like it used to. I'm stronger than I was back then. _He yanked on his bonds, trying to break them. They wouldn't budge. _I just wish I didn't have this as a disadvantage..._

He glanced toward the door. It had been awhile since the hunter had left him and he didn't know when she'd be back, if she did come back. He'd noticed something in the ceiling when he had pretended to ignore her. There was a crease in the center of the metal which only meant one thing. The ceiling could be opened. He knew from her size that there was no way _she_ could get him out of her ship by herself, but if something else, like a crane could reach in and get him, that was a whole other story.

_And my creator has those cranes.... and when I am inside the lab I won't stand a chance... but maybe I can do something before that. There has to be a way, because there's no way in the Pit I'm going to go willingly. _

Sadly for him he wouldn't have a choice.

-----------------

A relatively short time later Sam touched her ship down in the outdoor hanger of Silverblade's moon lab. As she stood she pressed the button that would open the ceiling in the cargo area of her ship and then stepped onto the hanger where Starscream's creator was waiting, in the darkened doorway of the lab building.

"Silverblade," the woman said, walking over to where he stood, partially hidden by shadow. "I've returned."

Silverblade nodded at her then turned his attention to her ship. "Where is he?"

"Still in the ship," she answered, looking back toward her ship. "You do not expect me to get him out there by myself, do you? I can't do everything you know and your shrink ray wasn't working either."

He waved her off. "It isn't important," he told her. "My drones will get him out of there."

She watched as a group of strangely shaped robots came out of another chamber on the other side of the hanger and rolled toward the ship. She recognized them from before. These simple machines were responsible for the upgrades to her ship.

One of the drones, a large crane machine, lowered a hook into the ship and pulled a struggling Starscream out. She saw the angry look on his face, knowing he wasn't happy about any of this. She suddenly got a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach but ignored it. She couldn't be feeling _sorry _for him!

Silverblade's optics flashed when he saw the Air Commander and Sam thought she heard him mutter. "At last." under his breath.

Sam folded her arms and looked over at the crane hauling out Starscream. She saw a look that was a mix or anger and fear on his face as he struggled to free himself. The words he'd said before came to mind again and she looked up at Silverblade. "By the way," she said. "I would like to discuss that extra payment for my troubles."

"Yes," he said, waving her off. "We'll discuss it later." and stepped toward the ship.

She followed, not to far behind. That sick feeling in her stomach was getting worse and she couldn't get rid of it, no matter how much she tried to. Starscream's words kept coming to mind and she couldn't shake them. What if he was right?

------------------

"So you've finally been returned to me."

Starscream looked up and glared hatefully at his creator, who was crossing the hanger. "Not on my own free will," he snapped. "But _of course_ you never were one for free will, now were you?"

Silverblade ignored the stab. "I wouldn't have _had _to go through all this trouble if you hadn't left in the first place."

"Did you really _think _I'd want to spend my entire existence chained to this place?" the air commander spat. "If you did, you're mistaken."

Silverblade glared at him, without comment. He was asking himself why he even bothered to make him, then he remembered. _Of course. He was the First. If I had known this would be the outcome of that I never would have bothered. No wonder I only tried it once. So much for keeping tabs on it._

He folded his arms. "If you knew the reason why I bothered creating you in the first place you wouldn't have bothered leaving," he told him.

Starscream scoffed. "I _doubt _that," he shot back. "It might have made me want to leave more. I've always wondered why you treated me differently."

His creator ignored him. He made a motion with his hand and the crane let him go. Starscream fell to the floor, landing hard on his stomach. He lifted his head and glared up at his creator. "Did I hit a nerve?" he taunted, his face mocking.

Silverblade stood over him, his own red optics burning with resentment. "You hit more than that, my ungrateful creation," he snapped. 'and you're going to regret ever doing such a thing."

"_Nothing_ you can do to me hasn't already been done," the seeker shot back.

Silverblade cocked his head and smirked. "Oh really?"

---------------

"Greetings, Megatron," Shockwave said the moment the Decepticon Commander stepped out of the space bridge with Skywarp, Thundercracker, and Soundwave. Even though he hadn't asked before his curiosity got the better of him this time and he had to ask. "Do what do I owe the honor of this visit?"

"Starscream," Megatron replied.

Shockwave stared, his featureless face not betraying his confusion. "Starscream, my lord?" he asked. "I wasn't aware that Starscream was on Cybertron. Did he use the space bridge without my knowledge?"

Megatron shook his head. "No. He did not return by his own free will."

"What?"

Megatron didn't explain. It was better that Shockwave didn't know. "Never-mind," he said, waving it off. "He'll be returning with us when we find him." He looked at his small group of soldiers. "Let's go."

------------------------

"Excuse me," Sam said, walking up behind Silverblade before Starscream could from a retort. "I hate to break up this little reunion but, before you two break out in tears, I want to discuss the rest of my pay." she folded her arms. "You said you would talk about it."

Silverblade turned his attention away from Starscream to glare down at the human. He'd forgotten she was still there. "Later," he said.

She wasn't going to give up that easily. "Now."

Silverblade knew he wouldn't be getting rid of her easily. She would bother him until she payed him. He turned his attention back to Starscream. "I'll deal with you later." he said then turned back to the bounty hunter. "I don't want to discuss this in front of the brat," he told her. "Lets finish this inside."

She nodded and allowed him to lead her into the building. No sooner had the door closed behind them when Sam, tensing suddenly, turned on her client, her gun raised. "Drop that!"

Silverblade had been grabbing for a gun he'd hidden in his chest compartment when she'd turned around and aimed her own weapon at him. He stopped in mid-reach and stared down at her.

"So he _was _right!" she exclaimed. "You weren't going to pay me the rest, just like you didn't oay me the first instalment."

"How did you-"

"I'm not stupid," she cut him off. "I checked. The money you'd put into my account you withdrew." when she saw the look on his face she said. "You didn't think I would find out, did you?"

He knew he had been caught, but that didn't mean he was going to do things by her rules. "So you caught me," he said. "what do you intend to do now? Take me in? I don't think so. There is no way you would be able to do anything about it."

"Oh really?" she asked.

He smirked. "Really." he said.

He moved faster than she even thought he could. Before she had time to react, he'd pulled out the gun and fired a shot at her. The energy bolt slammed into her chest and sent her flying across the room. Her body slammed into the wall. She grunted then fell to the floor, her back protesting when she pushed herself onto her hands and knees. She saw his foot come down just inches from her head and she looked up to see him smirking down at her. For a moment he looked just like Starscream. "I guess I was right," he said.

She glared up at him. 'You're not going to get away with this," she growled. _Double crossing me and now trying to kill me? Unforgivable!_

"I already have," he said, then reached down and picked her up by her arm. She dangled before his optics for a moment. He gave her a superior look then threw her across the room.

She flew through space and slammed into the rusted corpse of a security drone. Her body impacting with the machine caused it to collapse, falling on top of her and burying her under it. Silverblade watched the parts fall and waited for her to get back up again. When she didn't he turned away from the junk pile and stepped back outside to confront Starscream.

_A/N_

_Now that Ive finally reached their destination I'm going to have a wall in my way, like I always do. I'm going to have to break that wall down, otherwise I won't be able to continue. Man this always happens when I get to the good parts. I am up for suggestions. _


	23. Chapter 23

CHAPTER 22

"You didn't pay her, did you?" Starscream asked, when Silverblade came out of the lab and walked toward him. By then the drones had pulled the seeker to his feet and faced him toward his creator once more. They'd also done him a favor. They'd deactivated the energy binding his feet together so now he could walk and stand much easier. He'd tried to bolt the second they came on but didn't get very far. The drones might be stupid but they were strong.

"**Wait here, please**," one had said, grasping his arm firmly. He had almost stuck his tongue out at it and said something childish but held himself back. _Stop acting like an idiot! You don't want him to see that! You have to act mature around this old bucket of bolts! _

Now, when he saw the look on the other transformers face he smirked. "I knew it."

"You be quiet!" Silverblade commanded, glaring at him. He didn't want to discuss his double cross with Starscream. He might start gloating.

Starscream wasn't about to be silenced so easily. He knew how his creator was when it came to payments. He'd done that kind of thing often with his own clients. "She won't forgive you for that," he said, purposely stating the obvious. _You played her right into my hands. _

"She is in no place to forgive anyone," his creator shot back, stopping in front of the younger transformer. He folded his arms. "Just like I am and you soon won't be."

"Oh, don't beat around the bush, mighty Silverblade," Starscream said sarcastically. He couldn't help it. His egomaniac creator was just as bad as Megatron, but Starscream feared him a bit more. "I know you want to dismantle me so don't pretend otherwise."

"And I have good reason to, you ungrateful upstart," Silverblade shot back, grabbing Starscream's arm and jerking him forward. "But I won't get to that part until we have a little talk."

Starscream was starting to feel panicky but he forced himself, with much effort, to remain calm. The last thing he needed right now was to return to his former programming, but it was never easy to remain calm when he was around his creator. The older transformer had an intimidating air about him, even more so than Megatron.

---------------

Megatron had with him a hand held computer with a grid map and blinking lights. The light let him know where the hunter had landed her ship. When the computer's read out told him where it was he stared at the screen a moment, not believing what he was seeing. _That can't be right._

"What's wrong?" Thundercracker asked, when Megatron didn't move. The group of Decepticons had left Shockwave's building and were leaning the outside wall, waiting for Megatron to get a better readout of the hunter's location before they went any further. Thundercracker didn't understand what the hold up was about. "Is the readout inaccurate?"

Megatron, with his gaze still fixed on the screen, shook his head. "No," he said then said, as if thinking better of it. "I don't know."

Well _that_ wasn't an answer he was expecting. "Sir?"

"The readout says the bounty hunter landed her ship on one of the moons," Megatron said, thoughtfully. "There's no other reason for her to be landing there unless her ship sustained some kind of damage...." he thought about that a moment and another thought came to him. "Unless..."

He put the scanner aside and stepped back into the control room of the tower. "I need to use the computer," he said to Shockwave, shoving him aside. "Move."

Shockwave did what he was told and stepped out of the way. He watched as the Decepticon Commander accessed the Cybertronian database. He typed something down and a load of data appeared on the screen. The other Decepticon saw that it was addresses. Why was Megatron looking up addresses? Surely Starscream wasn't staying at somebodies house!

"What are you looking for?" he asked after a few minutes.

Megatron looked over his shoulder. His face showed his frustration. For the past few days he'd been trying to find out something, anything, about the reason behind the hunter's obsession with Starscream and, just when he was getting so close to finding out the answers, he could not find anything.

"Tell me," he said. "Do you happen to know if there are any buildings on the moons?"

Shockwave stared at him then asked. "Why?"

"Because Starscream might be on one of them."

"Oh, then yes."

"You do?"

Shockwave nodded then politely took the controls back from his superior. His gingers flew over the keyboard and an image appeared on the screen. It showed a laboratory. "This was establishment built sometime after the the war that liberated us," he explained. "One of the soldiers that participated in that war forsook the way of violence and became a scientist and inventor and had it built there."

"Why would somebody want a lab built on the moon?"

"Because the occupant is not social, a hermit if you will," Shockwave explained, typing out another command. The lab's picture moved to the side and another image appeared. This one of a large silver colored transformer. His dark red optics were cold and his mouth was turned down in a disapproving scowl. He looked like he wanted to lecute somebody jus for looking at him. Megatron recognize the mech as the one in the blurred image Soundwave had shoved him. "Who is he?"

"His name is Silverblade," Shockwave replied, clicking into the mecha's information file. "He is a well known scientist and inventor."

Megatron stared at the image for a moment. The face seemed to he scolding him. The Decepticon Commander felt an instant dislike for the scientist. "If he so well known how come I never heard of him?" he finally asked.

"Because he is only well known in the scientific community," Shockwave answered. "and because he chooses to keep his existence and location a secret."

Megatorn looked at him. "Then how come _you_ know where he is?"

"Because I once worked with him," the other Decepticon replied, looking at his superior. The older ransformers optics flashed in surprised. "He helped me build Skyfire. In a way he's his father. We used to be friends so to speak but sometime before the war he stopped talking to me, even when I sent him messages. I guess he didn't like the fact that I was sympathetic to your cause."

"So he's an Autobot?"

"Negative. He has no fraction. He discarded his insignia eons ago."

"So he's a defector?"

"No, just a pacifist."

Megatron was quite for a moment as he let the information process. Maybe that was a good thing. It might just mean that the worst this scowling has been could do was give lectures. Finally he said. "You wouldn't happen to know why this Silverblade would want Starscream, would you?"

Shockwave shook his head. "I don't know," he said, honestly. "Silverblade was always a bit eccentric. He never told anyone what he did. Maybe Starscream worked for him at one time.."

"Or..." another thought came to him. What if this had something to do with what the bounty hunter had hinted at. She'd said "father' and told him to ask what that word could mean to Starscream. Megatron remembered Starscream's reaction to the word. The hunter had captured Starscream and brought him to this Silverblade. Could this mean?

"Do you know if he ever built any transformers?" he asked finally.

"I only know of one," Shockwave replied. "He was called Renigade." his fingers flew over the keyboard and an image of the transformer appeared on the screen next to Silverblade. Renigade was a orange and silver colored transformer with an alt mode that looked like some kind of motor looked similar to his creator, except that he was smiling with a mischievous look in his optics. Megatron also noticed he looked a bit like Starscream.

"What happened to this Renigade?"

"He's dead," Shockwave replied. "He made a mistake and got himself killed." he looked over at Megatron. "What is it?"

"I just noticed that Renigade and Silverblade have a small resemblance to Starscream."

That wasn't a surprise. Skywarp and Thundercracker looked exactly like Starscream, mostly because they all had the same design. Resemblance didn't necessarily mean anything, not when it came to ttransformers that is. Looks were easy to imitate but personality..."That expression looks familiar too...."

Before Shockwave could ask him what he meant the Decepticon Commander turned away from the computer screen and went back outside where the others were waiting. Once he was back out on the street he noticed that Skywarp and Thundercracker were talking to a black and green colored femme. She seemed upset about something, and waved her hands a lot, as if trying to make a point. As Megatron drew near he thought that she looked strangely familiar but he couldn't remember where he might have seen her. Maybe an Energon bar... He also noticed she did not sport a fraction symbol for either party. She was a Neutral, like most femmes, except the ones that worked with Elita-1.

"What's going on here?" he demanded.

The two seekers and the femme stopped conversing and all turned to stare at the Decepticon leader. He looked at the two jets then pointed a finger at their companion. "Who is this?" he asked.

Before either could reply the femme spoke up for herself. "My name is Silv. I am a medic."

"What do you want?"

"Nothing, she replied.

"Then what are you doing here?"

"I was walking by and heard your two subordinates talking about your air commander," she replied. How did she know that? "I wanted to know what had happened to him."

"I don't think that is any of your business, femme," he said, he put a hand on her shoulder and tried to lead her away. It was bad enough she'd had the gall to walk up to Decepticons like she was one of the, but it was another for one of her unfraction to know so much about them. None of the other femmes he'd spent time with knew much about it. It was none of their business. Why did she care anyway?

"I believe it is," she said, not about to be blown off that easily.

He stared at her, noticing her optics were an unusual color. Purple. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Why do you even care? This is Decepticon business and none of your concern."

"Actually it _is_." She gave her answer in a blunt fashion. "Starscream is my brother."

Now all four Decepticons stared at her with shocked looks on their faces. She met their gazes and said it again. "He is my brother."

"I didn't know Starscream had a sister," Skywarp commented, staring at her thoughtfully. "You don't even look alike...".

"We don't know a lot of things about Starscream," Thundercracker told him. "Mostly because we don't _care_."

Megatron ignored his seekers and locked eyes with the femme. "So you're his sister," he said. "I don't see the resemblance."

She shrugged. "I wasn't built to look like him," she told him. "I was the only femme my creator made. He made me look like the femme he fell in love with."

"Who is your creator?" Megatron wanted to know, getting a feeling he knew the answer already.

"His name is Silverblade," she replied. She noticed Megatron looking at her strangely. "What?"

-------------------

With his creator gripping his arm Starscream was unable to make a break for it. He was unwillingly led into Silverblade's laboratory. The moment they stepped inside he noticed the mess of parts littering the hallway floor and couldn't help making a snide comment. "Cleaning droids have a malfunction?"

Silverblade glared at the Air Commander. "Watch your mouth!" he snapped.

"What will you do if I don't?" the air commander shot back, He never obeyed such commands without persuasion.. "Beat me? It's not like that's anything new."

Silverblade slapped him across the face. "Shut up!"

Starscream took the blow without comment then looked back at his creator, noticing for the first time that he was still much taller than himself. He almost made another snide comment but decided against it. Being a pain in the gear shaft wouldn't get him out of this, even if it did give him a sick little pleasure to see his creator not in control. _I'm not your timid little mousicon anymore. _

"None of this would have happened if you hadn't left."

"How is it my _fault_?" he demanded, unable to help himself. He didn't see the connection between his leaving and the mess on the hall floor. Then he noticed something else. A corpse. A corpse of somebody he recognized. _Firewing.._

Silverblade noticed him staring. "That was your brother," he informed him. "But you already know that don't you, since you're the one responsible for him being in that condition in the first place."

Now Starscream stared at his creator, his optics widened in shock and disbelief at his creator's accusation. "What?"

"Don't you play dumb with me," he snapped."I _know_ you had something to do with this!"

The seeker honestly had no idea what his creator was talking about. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

Silverblade angrily slapped him across the face again. "Don't lie to me!" he yelled, his red optics flashing. "It's bad enough you left but that didn't mean you could come back and destroy the rest of them!"

"I didn't!" he insisted. "Do you actually think I would bother to come back here and kill my own siblings!?"

Silverblade didn't answer but the accusing light in his optics said more than any words could. He actually believed that! Much as Starscream hated his creator the very realization that he thought he'd actually kill his siblings hurt, a lot. He would never do such a thing. Even now. Others might view him as a selfish, uncaring jerk but he _did_ care about his family, well at least _most_ of his family, the ones that didn't hurt him_. It wasn't me!_

"Do you understand now?"

No, he did not, but he was beginning to and it scared him. This wasn't just about him running away. It was about so much more. Silverblade looked at the corpses once more than back at Starscream, his optics hardening when he saw the look on his creation's face. Without a word he tightened his grip on the seeker's arm and led him the rest of the way down the hall.

"Let's see how you like it," he heard him mutter.

----------------

Megatron continued to stare at her, a memory surfacing in his mind. Now he knew who she was. _Why hadn't I figured this out before? _"I know you."

The others stared at him. "You _do_?" Skywarp asked, looking surprised. He wasn't the only one. Thundercracker's mouth was hanging open and even Soundwave seemed taken aback by this revelation. "How?"

Megatron's gaze stayed on the femme as he said. "The night Starscream showed me his true intentions she repaired me." he grabbed her shoulder. "She also wanted me to kill her."

"I no longer want that," she told him. "I found the meaning of life."

"So what do you want now?" he asked her. _Is there a reason you said that before?_

"I want to help you," she said. "I can take you to my creator's laboratory."

A look of satisfaction crept onto his face. Good. He wouldn't have to look for that place himself. He knew where it was but not what part of the moon. Her presence was like a gift from Primus. He just had to make sure this wasn't a trick. She _was_ related to Starscream after all. He grabbed her arm and looked right into her unusual colored optics. "Take us there," he ordered. "and if you get us lost or trick us you'll wish you never showed your face around here."

She met his gaze with no emotion. Her expression was a blank. She didn't even seem fazed by his threat. _So different from her brother, _he thought. Starscream would have made whiny excuses.

"I won't get you lost and this is not a trick," she told him. '" was just there. I know where it is. You just have to trust me." then, before he could comment on _that, _she added. "Just like you did the day I repaired you."

He said nothing to that, fully aware of the gazes of his subordinates on him. He at least owed her something for that, didn't he? If it had been under any other circumstances...He let her arm go. "Lead the way," he said simply.

She looked up at the sky then put a hand on his arm. "Come with me."

The group of five headed down the street.

-------------------

The two robots footsteps had faded to a faint echo by the time Sam dug herself out of the scrap that had one been a security drone. She burst out of the mess and looked around herself, her gun's power set at its highest power level. She looked around herself once more but didn't see Silverblade. He was gone. She cursed, angrily driving her fist into the wall. She hadn't expected this to happen. She was ticked that she'd let it happen. By now she should have been wary of such things but she'd trusted the rusted pile of scrap. He'd been lying to her all along.

_Even if Starscream hadn't of warned me this would have happened... _but if she _hadn't_ listened she might actually have it worse than she currently did. She was bruised and angry but at least she was alive. He though he'd killed her but she didn't die that easily. _and he won't get away with it. _she vowed seething, sliding off the scrap pile. _He's going to pay for double crossing me!_

_-----------------------_

Silverblade led his unwilling captive into a large room then closed and locked the door behind them. While he did so Starscream stood in the middle of the room, his optics taking in the neglected look of the room. A thousand memories came slashing back to him. He knew this room. This was where he'd spent most of his time when he'd lived there. This was where he worked but also where he'd gotten many a scolding from his creator. The memories, both good and bad, made him sick.

_I was such a-_

A cluncking noise interrupted his thoughts. He jumped slightly then turned back to his creator. Silverblade had accidently knocked something off a shelf. Starscream's optics locked on it. He knew what it was. The small machine he'd tried to build. The one his creator was constantly telling him he was building wrong.

_"You're still doing that wrong!"_

_He still has it?_

Silverblade did not seem to notice the item. He finished with the door then turned back to the seeker. His foot kicked it when he stepped toward him and the machine skittered across the floor and came to a stop by the far table. The large gray scientist walked right up to his creation. He raised his hand and Starscream tried to to flinch, expecting him to strike him. He didn't.

Instead he put his hand on the Starscream's chest compartment and dig his fingers in. The Air Commander yelped more out of surprise than pain when his creator yanked it open, exposing his glowing blue spark. Silverblade's face glowed eerily in the light, his expression a mask of fascination... or was in insanity? For a moment he looked like a mad scientist about to conduct some kind of experiment on an unwilling test subject.

And maybe he was. Starscream did not like that idea. He would have preferred a besting instead.

His creator stared at the spark a moment longer then looked back at Starscream. The Decepticon did not like the look on his face and unconciously took a step back. _No! Don't you touch me!_

"Ever wonder why I gave you special treatment?" Silverblade asked, his expression less angry and more crazy. He _was _crazy!

He had but he wasn't going to say so. He wasn't sure he wanted to know anymore. He just wanted to get away from this lunatic. Why was the other mech suddenly acting like he lost his mind? _Go back to being angry, you old fool! _

"Did you know that the spark is the most sensitive part on a transformers body?" Silverblade asked, his voice low and strange. He didn't seem to notice that Starscream hadn't answered his first question. "Did you know it feels the most pain?" he grabbed Starscream's arm and yanked him back. "Let me prove it to you." His hand punged right into it before the air commander could protest.

That did it. Starscream could hold it in anymore. He started screaming.

_A/N_

_Megaton does not like Silverbnlade already and he's only seen his pictures. hehehehe. I dunno. it just seems hilarious for some reason, especially since Starscream likes to compare the two! Oops that was a but unexpected. But yeah Silverblade isn't exactly sane. Maybe it'll explain some things better. Do you understand what he meant by the First? I'll give ya a hint. Indestructible spark! _

_I'll leave you to figure out what that last part was all about. _


	24. Chapter 24

CHAPTER 23

Silverblade didn't keep his hand in Starscream's spark for very long. He let it stay for a few more seconds then removed it. The Air Commander fell backwrad when he did so, panting heavily, his optics wide in terror and disbelief. For a moment neither transformer said anything then Starscream demanded, unable to help himself. "What the slag do you think you're doing?!"

The tarnished silver mech smirked. "Just giving you a little taste of how I feel," he replied.

"You're crazy! You could have killed me!"

"So?" his creator asked. Starscream felt dumb for saying such a thing. His creator didn't care if he killed him anyway. He knew he already wanted to, it should be a surprise. So what was he going to do? Torture him_ then _kill him? "I was testing something... and it worked."

Starscream didn't know what he was talking about and didn't want to find out. He said nothing. Instead he leaned against the table behind him, panting and getting a nagging feeling that he was in far worse trouble than he realized. _So what now?_

Silverblade, grabbed his arm and yanked him back. He put his hand on the chest compartment again. Starscream flinched but the scientist didn't shove his hand in again. He just reached out and shut the compartment, his fingers forcing the metal back into place. He then stepped away from him, his optics regaining that cold stare it had earlier. Now since he had satisfied himself with knowing that he had succeeded it was time to get back to his former topic.

"Let's talk."

---------------

"Don't you think she's cute?" Skywarp asked, leaning against Thundercracker. The four Decepticons were following Silv, Starscream's sister, through the streets of Iacon. Skywarp was spending the trip staring at the femme that said she was related to Starscream. He could not see how she could be. She was totally different than her brother and they didn't really have any family resemblance, in looks or character.

His friend gave him a look. "Can't you think of anything else besides cute femmes?" he asked. "Now really isn't the time to be flirting."

"I know that," Skywarp said, huffily. He sounded offended. "But that doesn't mean I can't think she's cute, and you didn't answer my question. Do you think she's cute?"

Thundercracker wasn't going to answer, but thought better of it. If he didn't Skywarp would just keep on bugging him until he did. "Yes," he said grudgingly. "She is cute."

Skywarp grinned at him. "I knew it!"

"Knock it off, you two," Megatron commanded irritably. He looked over his shoulder and glared at the two seekers. They fell silent.

Silv led them to a small ship, an upgraded version of the smaller space travel models. She put her hand on the dark blue hull. "This is my ship," she told them. "We can use it to get there."

Megatorn nodded and looked at the others. The four followed her inside. Skywarp wanted to sit in the front with the femme who had taken the controls but Megatron informed him that _he_ would be sitting in the front. The seeker tried to argue but Thundercracker put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head at his friend. Skywarp caught the warning in his optics and said nothing.

Megatron said down beside the femme and looked out the windshield, folding his arms and focusing his attention on the sky ahead. "Why don't you tell me about your creator?"

She looked at him, curious. "Why do you want to know?"

He met her gaze. "Everything."

---------------------------

For a moment neither spoke. Starscream grew somewhat impatient. Silverblade wanted to talk, yet all he was doing was staring, like some kind of statue. The seeker couldn't take it anymore and began to conversation himself. Maybe in doing so he'd have some kind of control over it.

"Answer me something," he began. "If you did not want any of us to leave why did you give us free wills?"

There was that question again. First Silv and now him. Silverblade knew Starscream was the one responsible for Silv asking him that in the first place, because it sounded so much like him, or the way he _used_ to talk anyway.. _Poison. _The answer was complicated and he had no intention of explaining it to him. "It was a mistake," he told him, hotly. "Now shut up about it! It's not important!"

Starscream wasn't going to give up that easily. He wanted to know. He had a _right_ to know. He was going to die soon anyway so what would it hurt to tell him? "What's the matter?" he asked. "Too afraid to tell the truth for once?"

"What do you know about the truth?" Silverblade hissed, his optics flashing. "You don't know how to use it either!"

"Oh, I know how to _use_ it," Starscream told him. "It's just that I chose _not_ to. But of course _you're_ just as as bad. You were always a liar, even when I lived here and you always hid things from me." he smirked. "You're just like him."

Silverblade stared at him coldly. He knew he was right. Lying was almost second nature to him but he told the truth more often than not, especially recently. Except when it came to the bounty hunter he had tricked. At first he had intended to pay her, he really had, but after she had taken so long to capture him he'd changed his mind. _But I'm not like __**him**__!_

"So why did you give us free wills," the seeker pressed. "if you didn't want us to ever leave?"

"You want to know?" his creator said, deciding it would be alright to tell him, at least some of it. It wasn't like he was going to live long enough to do anything with the information anyway. "I made you like that because drones are only programmed to do one thing. They are single minded creatures. I made you and your siblings free thinkers because I not only wanted companionship but I wanted individuals that could do more than one thing. I wanted mecha that could come to the conclusions I had come to but different ways. Drones don't do that. I wanted individuals that had scientific curiosity and could have their own personalities." he shook his head. "It was a mistake. Mel warned me, but I didn't listen."

_Mel? _Oh yeah. She was the one who he'd gone out with a few times, his former lab assistant that Silv was designed after. _She _had warned him? "Well maybe you should have."

"I don't need to be scolded by you!" his creator shouted, turning his optics back on the seeker. "Everything was going fine until you had to go and ruin everything!"

"I wasn't the first!" Starscream shot back. "What about Renigade? It wasn't like he was a model transformer!"

"Renigade was always rebellious."

"Well maybe you shouldn't have scolded me for what happened to Skyfire," he shot back. "Maybe you shouldn't have treated me the way you had and said the things you said. If you hadn't things might have been much different."

Silverblade bit back a response. Starscream was right about that, he just didn't want to admit it. "You really think so?" he demanded.

"Yes, I do."

His creator laughed. "Of course _you _would," he said. "But I know you. You would have gone anyway. Nothing would have changed, you would have left anyway, you little brat. You were never satisfied with living here, were you? You always wanted to leave. You were brainwashed by the empty promises of that gladiator! He's the reason you left!"

The seeker conceded. "Maybe you're right."

Silverblade stared, surprised at Starscream's flat honesty. "I _was_ right!" he exclaimed.

"I said 'maybe'," Starscream said, clarifying himself. _You could be wrong, at least in some areas. _

Silverblade paced for a moment then asked, his voice sounding a bit more normal. "Why?"

The Air Commander made a face. "Why, you ask?" the seeker scoffed. "Because_ anything _seemed better than living _here_." he said _here _as if it tasted bad. "He made so many promises. He wanted Cybertron to be more fair, or at least that's what he said at the time. All the things he spoke about on the holofeeds sounded _right_."

"But you know he's wrong," his creator pointed out. "So why-"

"I don't _care_ if he's wrong," Starscream cut him off. "It's still a much better existence than what you gave us. At least I'm not-" he stopped, realizing his next words would be a lie. _At least he doesn't force me to be content with my place... _that wasn't true either. Starscream wanted to be the leader, but Megatron wouldn't allow that. Whenever he'd been given the chance to prove himself he blew it and Megatron let him know about it. More than once. _Just like you..._

"You're not what?" Silverblade demanded, eyeing him. "From the information I gathered he won't allow you to be more than you are either." he laughed at that. "How ironic. You left one who didn't think you'd become something and went to somebody else who doesn't think you'll become something."

"At least I gained a good rank!" Starscream said the words even as he asked himself why he was bothering to defend him superior officer. Megatron was just as bad and they both knew it. "I am second in command!"

"Second isn't as good as first," his creator pointed out, somewhat gleefully. "and you know that as well as I do. We both know why you even have that rank. You might have gained it out of honesty, or not, but the only reason you're keeping it is because he needs you as his scape goat." Starscream had no comment. "He knows he can always blame you if something goes wrong. He's done it before."

That was true but the air commander wasn't going to admit it, not to _Silverblade_ anyway.

Silverblade went on. "You left home because you didn't like the rules and went to somebody else because you thought their rules would be better," he looked at him. "You found out that his rules were exactly the same as mine. Sure he tolerated you at first, even was wowed by all the things you could do. But then you eventually got tired of acting and showed him your true self." his optics burned into him. "and that true self was an ugly primitive. Just like always, you got reckless and over confident. you thought you could do things better than the superior and just like always you had to be show you couldn't."

"That's where you're wrong," Starscream growled. _I can do a better job than him __**and**__ you! But neither of you will give me the benefit of a doubt!_

His creator said mildly. "You really think that?" he asked.

"I _know_ that."

Silverblade laughed. "My poor deluded creation," he said. "If that were true you'd be in that place right now and as you said when you left "throwing it in my face." but you accomplished neither, even after so much time." he put his hands on his hips and shook his head. "My poor Starscream. How deluded you are by your own ego."

---------------------

"He used to be a caring sort," Silv was explaining as she maneuvered her ship out of Cybertonian airspace. "He even encouraged our curiosity, if it didn't involve wanting to become ordinary citizens and leaving home. He even took a few of us to the planet. But after Starscream left his personality changed and he started acting strangely." she was silent for a moment, thinking. "To be honest that might have been his true self all along."

Megatron said nothing for a moment. The way she was painting this egomaniac sounded familiar somehow but he couldn't place it. "So he was a dictator?"

She glanced at him once. "You would know more about that kind of being than I would," she said. "But if a dictator is somebody with a violent temper and is against freedom of any kind and does anything he can to gain submission then that's exactly what he was."

"So, Starscream could not stand this anymore and left?" he asked.

"Ran away is how my creator put it," she said corrective. "Ran away like a pouting and spoiled child that did not get his way."

Yeah, that description fit Starscream accurately. He'd used the term himself once in awhile.

"I'm glad he did in a way," she went on. "The rest of us wanted to do the same things but never had the courage. The only one who ever tried it before him was Renigade. But he was careless and cocky and got himself killed." she shook her head. "Starscream was a bit more careful and didn't pick fights."

He almost corrected her but said nothing. He remembered the day Starscream had come into that energon bar so long ago. The seeker had been so timid but even then he'd had a temper. He might not have intended to cause trouble but he had and Megatron had bailed him out, something he often regretted. "He didn't have such a big ego back then."

The femme nodded. "Time can change us all," she stated matter of factly. "But I think that personality was always there. It was just hidden well. He was more submissive back then."

Yes, Megatron could give him that. Somehow abuse just made him more rebellious.

For a moment there was a silence then Silv asked. "So what do you intend to do when you get there?"

"Huh?"

"You came after them for some reason," she pointed out. "Was it because you want to get back your second in command or-" she looked straight into his face, her optics burning into his."- do you just want to satisfy your curiosity?"

"I believe you already did that," he told her.

"No," she said, looking away again. "I only told you what I know. There is more to the story but to find that out you need to ask Starscream or Silverblade himself."

"That's not any of your concern," he informed her.

"Maybe not," she conceded. "But either way I will find out." she looked at him again. "So which is it?"

He thought about it a moment then answered, honestly. "Both."

---------------

Sam heard voices coming from a room ahead of her. She stopped for a moment, listening to the conversation, or what she could make out. The voices belonged to Starscream and Silverblade. _Time to make that lying cheat pay!_

----------------------

Starscream realized that he'd lost control of the conversation. It had drifted into a sensitive subject, one that he wished not to get into but one that Silverblade enjoyed talking about. "So here you are, back from your little vacation," he said, smirking. The seeker saw a mocking light in his creator's optics. Somehow that gave him a feeling of dejavu. "With nothing to throw in my face. Nothing but your reputation for being a wimp and a coward."

"Not as much a coward as you!" he shot back.

The next minute he was lying on the floor, his face stinging from a blow. Silverblade toward over him, his hands on his hips. "I wouldn't be saying things about what I don't know if I were you," he told him. "If it wasn't for me and many others you wouldn't even exist right now. You should be _thanking_ me."

Starscream glared at him. "Thank you?" he scoffed. "The only thing I can thank you for is giving me a reason to leave in the first place!"

His creator's red optics flashed again. "Shut your mouth," he ground out. "Just shut your slaggin' mouth!"

"Why? Can't you handle the truth, you arrogant, egotistical, abusive tyrant?" he demanded. For some reason he suddenly felt as if he was talking to Megatron. That wasn't a surprise. They acted alike. Just as always when he spoke this way to Megatron he kept going, even though he knew it was a bad idea. "That's all you are! A tyrant! A tyrant who thinks what he's doing it right!"

"Shut up!" Silverblade ordered, his entire frame shaking.

"What's the matter?" he asked, his face taking on the same expression his creator had only moments before. "Don't you like the truth?"

The older transformer's temper snapped."'I said shut up" he screamed before hitting the seeker with a crushing blow.

-------------------------

Silv's ship landed on the labs landing pad a short time later. As it touched down and the five climbed out Megatron noticed that the bounty hunter's ship was there as well. _Looks like all the pieces are on the table._

He looked at his subordinates. "All right," he said. "Spread out. Make sure this mad scientist doesn't have any surprises waiting for us." They all nodded and split up. He looked back at the ship. Silv was standing in the doorway, watching him. "What are you doing?" he demanded.

She turned her gaze toward the lab. Her expression told him she wasn't comfortable being there. "I've already spent enough time here," she told him. "I'd much rather stay where I am."

Much as she wanted to he still didn't trust her enough to allow her to do so. "That will be impossible," he told her, walking back to the doorway. He reached up and grabbed her arm. "You are coming with me."

She didn't put up much of a fight. "Where do you want me to take you?" she asked.

Before Megatron could reply Thundercracker came running, an urgent expression on his face. 'Look out!" he screamed.

Megatron already saw the blast coming. Her jerked on Silv's arm, yanking her away from her ship and dived out of the way just as a huge bolt of energy hit it. The machine exploded instantly.

"Well," Megatron said, looking at the wrecked ship. "It looks like we are expected." he looked at the femme. "You knew about this, didn't you?"

She shook her head. "No," she replied. "But he might have known anyway. Silverblade doesn't trust anyone."

Megatron looked toward the building. He saw that the entrance door had opened and an army of drones were spilling out onto the landing pad. He raised his arm. "Soon it won't matter." He fired.

-----------------------

Starscream held in a cry of pain as he felt his wing crack under the pressure of the blow and parts of his already damaged null gun go flying. His whole body jerked as he was hit again then again, the pain growing worse each time. He forced himself not to scream, not to beg for mercy. He didn't want Silverblade to get any reaction out of him. He didn't want to give him the satisfaction.

Silverblade, as if seeing he wasn't getting a response, finally stopped and stepped back. He reached down and pulled the seeker to his feet. He was met with rebellious eyes. "Answer me this," he said. "If I'm so much like Megatron how come you never ran away from him?"

_If I did he would kill me. He would find me and kill me rather easily. I'm more afraid of him than I am of you. You intimidate me more than he does but I fear you less. _"I have nothing to prove to him."

Silverblade did not like that answer. "That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard! You run away to prove something, yet you run to somebody you with the same personality!"

"Not the same personality," Starscream corrected. "Just the same temperament. _He_ actually had my respect at one point."

"And I never did?" for some reason that hurt.

"Never."

----------------------------

Megatron make quick work of the drones blocking the entrance. While the two seekers and Soundwave dealt with the rest of the security force Megatron rushed inside, dragging Silv along with him. Once they were inside the main hall he turned to her and said. "You know your way around here. If you wanted to find your creator where would you look?"

"It depends," she said. "If you want to find him alone or with one of his creations."

The Decepticon Commander doubted he'd be alone if Starscream was here. "Second choice."

She touched his arm and pointed to their left. "That way."

-------------------------

Sam had found the room but she had no way of getting in. She stood outside it for the longest time, trying to come up with a plan. Suddenly she heard footsteps coming toward her. She turned around and spotted the one called Megatron. Not wanting to deal with him as well she stepped away from the door and out of sight.

--------------------

Silverblade's expression once again turned cold. He'd found out everything he needed to know. He had no more reasons to put it off. He'd waited long enough already. With an angry growl he once again threw the seeker to the floor. This time he was rewarded by a surprised yelp from the air commander. He raised his foot and ground it into the frame of his left wing. Starscream cried out again even as he tried to hold them in. His creator leaned over him, his face only inches away from his creations. "You-"

Suddenly both he and Starscream heard security system go off. Intruders! But the older transformer didn't pay much attention to it. He'd take care of that little problem after he dealt with this one.

Starscream on the other hand paid more attention to the sirens than to his creator. To him that noise was the best thing he ever head. He smirked at his creator. "It looks like my comrades have arrived," he said, feeling cocky, now that he'd have some kind of help

Silverblade didn't seem worried. "They won't get here in time to save you," he said, his hand closing around Starscream's neck. "Not even Primus will help you this time."

The seeker felt a crushing pressure come over him. Not just in his neck but in the rest of his frame. This was something new. He had never felt anything like this before. _What is he doing to me?!_ He struggled against it, but with his arms still secured behind him he couldn't fight Silverblade off. He was trapped. A darkness began to creep into his vision. First in the corners then slowly toward the very center. He was dying. _Primus help me!_

Suddenly a loud explosion filled his audio receptors. Silverblade, startled by the sound, lifted the pressure and the pain left him the same time as his vision returned to normal. He gasped then turned his head. The door, the one his creator has locked, had been blasted out of its frame, leaving a hole where it had once it.

His creator stared in surprise.

Whoever had blown that door open stepped into the room and stared right at the creator and his creation. His attention focused on the older transformers tarnished face. "Silverblade I presume?"

_A/N_

_I'm sorry this took so long but my computer hates me and still isn't working properly. Hopefully it will be fixed to one hundred percent by new years eve. I hope you enjoy it anyway. I couldn't remember what I was going to write at that time anymore so I just came up with something else. I hope this will satisfy you. _

_I hope I didn't disappoint you.  
_


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Never before in Starscream's entire existence had he ever been so happy to see his superior than then. "Megatron!" he exclaimed, half relieved, half surprised. How had he found him?

Silverblade, his face a mixture of surprise and anger, straightened up and faced the Decepticon. Megatron watched him, his arm cannon aimed at his face. "So we finally meet," the scientist said, his face twisted in disgust. "I finally get to meet the one responsible for this whole thing face to face."

Megatron felt he needed to correct the scientist. He wasn't to blame. "You cannot blame me for this," he informed him. "This was your own doing."

"So how did you find this place?" the scientist wanted to know, ignoring the accusation. "Did that bounty hunter open her big mouth?"

"No," the Decepticon told him. "I got the information from a more personal sourse."

The tarnished silver mech cocked his head. "and that would be?"

Just then another figure entered the room and stood in plain view, right next to Megatron. Silverblade's mouth fell open in shock. "Silv?"

She nodded, her purple optics burning into his own. "Yes."

"How could you?!" he demanded angrily. How dare she give awya the buildings location! and to Megatron at that!

"It had to be done."

"Why?" he wanted to know.

"Somebody needed to end this," she replied calmly. He did not intimidate her, not anymore.. "Before you hurt anyone else." now she looked right at him, her gaze never leaving his. "Starscream was never responsible for what happened to the others. _You_ were!"

Her creator stared at her in shock. "What?!"

-----------

Sam stepped out of the shadows and crept up to the now open door. She peaked inside, taking note of the four machines. Silverblade had his full attention focused on either Megatron or the black and green robot that looked female. She couldn't be sure. It didn't matter anyway. As long as he was distracted.

Knowing that none of them would be paying any attention to her, she slipped into the room and took off to the left. She could get a better firing position from there.

The others didn't notice her but Starscream did. He watched her, surprised to see she was still alive after all. He was tempted to say something but kept his mouth shut. It wouldn't help anyone if he gave her away. Besides, she might just come in handy soon.

Silv was still talking. "We knew something would happen if one of us ever left," she said. "and we were right. After he defied you and ran off, you changed. You kept on saying you didn't want to lose anymore of us." she pointed a finger at him and went on, her voice accusing. "That's when you did it! You destroyed your own creations because you didn't want them to leave you! But they did, thanks to you, and they're never coming back! I was lucky to get out of there alive!"

Silverblade stood there, shaking his head in denial "No," he protested. "I didn't do it! It wasn't me!"

She studied him with her serious purple optics. "Yes, you did," she confirmed. "Check the holofeeds if you have not destroyed them. It was you and only you, not Starscream."

Megatron listened to all of this with growing fascination. So not only was Silverblade an egotistical dictator but he was a psychopath and a murderer as well. No wonder Starscream ran away.

Silverblade said nothing more about the subject she mentioned. Instead he turned his attention on Megatron, ignoring her. "This was your fault," he growled at him.

Megatron glared at him. "I believe," he said. "That _you're_ the one who caused this. I didn't make him leave. You drove him away yourself."

The scientist made no comment. Megatron hadn't expected him to. He nodded. "Can't deny it, can you?" he asked. "Of course not. You know it's true."

"I don-" Silverblade started to speak but Megatron cut him off. "So now you're going to lie. Of course that would be just like you. I wouldn't lie if I was in your place. I've been around Starscream long enough to know how he can be. How childish he is."

Starscream felt offended. "Hey-" he started. He hated when Megatron insulted him. It was bad enough when he could fight back but now that he was practically helpless it was worse.

A glare from Megatron silenced him. "If it had been me, I would have been happy to see him go," he went on. "Seeing how he used to act, but I know something about him you don't."

Silverblade stared at him. "What would that be?" he asked. _Go ahead. Lie. _

"Though he's a pain he's useful," the Decepticon leader answered. "and because of that I can't let you kill him." he aimed at Starscream with his cannon. "and if anyone is going to kill him that person is going to be me."

Silv stepped away from him, her optics widening. Was he going to kill Starscream after he'd spent so much time trying to find him?

Starscream stared at him in horror. "No!" he screamed. "Megatron!"

"Silence!" the gray Decepticon ordered. "I don't want to hear your whining excuses! All you ever make is excuses! Even now you just keep on whining! I've had enough of your whining!"

Starscream closed his mouth, unable to say anything more.

Sam watched this whole drama unfolding with interest. It looked like Starscream didn't have any friends in either area. _But why would Megatron waste so much time finding him just to kill him? _she wondered. _How could have done that anywhere. Unless..._ she checked the power on her arm cannon. Near full. Good.

----------------

Silv watched this whole thing happening from her spot beside Megatron. She saw the horrified look on Starscream's face and Silverblade's expression become surprised and confused, as if he couldn't believe that Megatron was about to do what he'd planned on doing himself. It confused her too but she had the sneakingest suspicion that he was up to something. _But what?_

Silverblade finally found his voice. "Y-you're going to kill him yourself?" he asked, his optics flashing with disbelief.

"Why not?" Megatron asked. "You're going to and I have more of a reason to do so than you. Why don't I end both our problems now?"

The scientist got over his shock and glared at him angrily. "No," he said.

Megatron cocked his head. "No?"

"This is _my_revenge," Starscream's creator told him. "I will not allow you to do this for me." he pointed a finger at him. "I know what you're trying to do and it's not going to work. If you get in my way of my revenge you will regret it for the rest of your pitiful existence."

The gray Decepticon's lip curled in a mocking sneer. "How do you intend to stop me?" he asked. "You gave up the will to fight eons ago. You're nothing but a pitiful wreck of a transformer that can only harm another when he's weak and helpless and cannot fight back."

Silverblade smiled a chilling smile. "I beg to differ." he stepped backward. "How about I correct you on that?"

Megatron's arm moved faster than the scientist expected. One minute it was aiming its cannon at Starscream the next it was aimed at his tarnished silver face. "Go right ahead."

---------------------

Outside Thundercracker, Skywarp, and Soundwave made quick work of Silverblades security drones. "All right," Thundercracker said when all the drones lay in a smoking heap on the landing pad. "I think that's all of them. Let's get inside and assist Megatron."

"Right," Skywarp said. "and let's make sure Silv is alright as well. She doesn't have a weapon."

"Starscream higher priotity than femme," Soundwave said.

Skywarp gave the Communication's Officer a look. "Thanks for the reminder," he said sarcastically.

----------------

Megatron looked ready to take Silverblade up on his challenge but, before he could fire a shot, a missile came firing out of nowhere and hit the table behind the scientist. The explosion knocked everyone off their feet. Silverblade was the first to recover. He shot quickly to his feet and dashed out of the room before anyone could stop him.

Megatron watched him go then looked in the direction the missile had come from. He spotted someone standing on a shelf on the far wall. That bounty hunter! She'd ruined everything.

She seemed to realize her mistake and jumped down from the shelf, dashing over to where he lay. He glared down at her. "Why did you do that?" he demanded. "and where did you come from?"

"That worthless rust bucket tricked me," she explained. "I was going to teach him a lesson." she pointed an accusing finger at him. "Thanks to you I missed!"

He gave her a hateful look, contemplating whether to shoot her or crush her with his bare hands. She was such a nuisance and he was sick of dealing with her. If it hadn't been for her that rotten scientist wouldn't have gotten away. "Thanks to me nothing! You are the one with the bad aim."

"It doesn't matter," Silv broke in, getting up. She crossed the room and released Starscream from his bonds. "He's getting away and we have to stop him."

Sam cursed under her breath. She'd blown it. "Well he's _not_ going to get away," she said with determination.

"No he won't," Megatron agreed, getting to his feet.

"Wait," Silv exclaimed before either person could run off. "You don't know where he is going! He had a head start. He could be anywhere."

"I know where he's going," Starscream said, getting off the floor. He looked at the other three, rubbing his sore wrists. He noticed Megatron was giving him his full attention now. "The coward is headed to his room. The room he wouldn't let any of us in."

"Why would he go there?" Megatron demanded his second in command.

_Now you want to listen to me, when I know something you don't. Figures. You're probably going to take the credit when this is over as well _At the mment the fact didn't matter. All that mattered was stopping Silverblade. "Because it's safe there," he explained.

"and that's where all his controls are," Sam finished.

The robots looked down at her.

"That's where I spoke to him the first time," she explained. "I am an observant person." she started out of the room. "Let's go."

Starscream started to follow but felt a tug on his arm. When he turned to see who it was he saw Megatron standing behind him with a hard look on his face. "When this is over," the Decepticon leader said. "You're going to tell me everything."

-------------

Skywarp, Soundwave, and Thundercracker were in the hallway, looking for Megatron when a tarnished silver transformer that wasn't Megatron rushed toward them. Thundercracker and Soundwave had the sense to get out of the way but Skywarp didn't see the robot until it was too late. It slammed into him, knocking him to the hard metal floor. "Hey!" he exclaimed.

The other robot, who hadn't fallen over or lost his balance, stared at him hard for a moment then rushed down the hall. "Who was that?" Skywarp asked as Thundercracker helped him up.

"Identity unconfirmed," Soundwave said.

--------------------------

Silverblade crashed into his private chamber and pressed the button that would shut and seal it. He leaned against the door for a moment, his processor working a mile a minute. The black and purple seeker and the blue and gray seeker looked just like Starscream. _They all look the same. _he thought. _I cannot stand that mold!_

He turned from the door and ran over to a large control panel. It was covered in buttons and other types of control switches. His optics centered on a red button covered in transpersteel. He smashed the glass and pressed the bottom. A loud siren blared and a red light started flashing on and off. "It's time I took care of this the proper way. Let's see them all get away now!" he looked back toward the door. _Let's make sure I take care of everything this time. _

He turned from the controls and ran into another chamber. There he found what he wanted. He grabbed it off the shelf and ran back to the door where he waited.

--------------------

Starscream and the others were on their way to Silverblade's room when the siren went off. "Hold it!" he exclaimed, stopping in his tracks and putting out his arms.

"What is that?" Sam asked.

"He's activated the emergency security system," he explained, his optics scanning the other halls. He sensed an approaching presense, one he'd never felt before. "We're about to have company."

They didn't have time for this! "Soundwave," Megatron said into his comlink.

"Yes, Megatron?" the Communications Officer asked.

"See if you can find a way to deactivate the system."

"Objective impossible." was the monotonous reply.

"What? Why?"

Soundwave, Skywarp, and Thundercracker were surrounded by a large number of security drones. "Current situation critical."

The Decepticon Commander ground his teeth. This was just getting better and better. He looked at Starscream. He seemed to know his way around the lab, which shouldn't have been a surprise since he'd lived there. Megatron also noticed he was shaking but his face was grim and he looked determined. He opened his mouth to ask if he knew of any way to shut off the security system but a metallic scraping cut him off.

"What is that?" Silv asked, looking around. She'd never heard anything that sounded like that before.

Just then a large machine smashed through the wall and blocked their path. It was a large robot with bright red eyes and a large reptilian body. Starscream, who was standing in front of them was knocked against the wall by a large metal claw. He grunted and fell to the floor.

Sam watched this happen then stared at the machine, her eyes wide with recognition. She'd seen this thing before. "Ridley!" she exclaimed. _No not Ridley! A machine!_

Starscream grunted and got up, his optics locked on the machine. What was this? He didn't remember his creator ever making anything like this! Where had he gotten it?

The metallic reptile screeched loudly and dove at the others. Megatron ducked to avoid a flying claw swipe and fired his cannon at it. The blast knocked the robot back but did little else. The Decepticon commander stared at it with his mouth open. What the? A swiping claw he didn't see hit him in the side and knocked him to the floor.

The robot focused its attention on Silv and fired missiles at her. She jumped back, avoiding the missiles until she too was knocked to the floor.

The bounty hunter, avoided the reptile's strikes and charged at it, firing her missile in a constant rhythm. She seemed to know what to do. "Fire at it's chest!" she shouted at the other, over her shoulder. "That's where it's vunerable!"

How did she know? Had she fought this kind of machine before?

Well it didn't matter. While she kept it distracted, the seeker aimed his nullguns at the things chest and fired. Something there flashed brightly then shattered. The machine screamed in agony as its core power source exploded. It fell to the ground in a smoking heap. Starscream noticed Megatron watching him but he ignored the other transformer. He ran up to the machine and fired again, to make sure it wouldn't get up. _Let's see you smack me again, you poor excuse of a Predacon! _As he did so Megatron ran past him.

The seeker gave the robot a kick and started to follow with the bounty hunter and Silv close behind. Silv hadn't fired at the robot. She was not built for combat. She'd watched as Starscream had fired at the machine without thinking about the consequences. He was so different than she remembered. _He's grown up some but still has a long way to go._

The three had almost caught up with Megatron when suddenly their path was blocked by more robots. This time they weren't of the reptilian variety. They were simple security drones, but there was a lot of them and they wouldn't go down easily. The bounty hunter cursed angrily then started firing more of those missiles. Starscream used his nullguns, setting them at full power. Silv stood behind him, watching his back and trying her best to help, by kicking any that got too close.

It was the best she could do.

--------------

Megatron had left the others behind but he was too determined to find that scientist that he didn't notice and didn't care when he did. He wasn't sure why he wanted to take care of the other robot so much. Was it because the tarnished silver mech did indeed remind him of himself and thus he wanted to get rid of such a thing? Or was it because he thought that other transformer had no right to try to get rid of his second in command?

If he was truely honest with himself he knew that Starscream wasn't totally useless. Sure he was whiny and acted like spoiled child sometimes but when it came to certain things his knowledge was invaluable. Plus Starscream's voice wasn't so annoying when he was serious and he _could_be serious. And, though he would never admit it, maybe he did really need the seekers constant reminders that his plans weren't going to work. More often then not the other transformer had proven to be right.

Every one of the Decepticon Commander's plans hadn't worked, just like Starscream had said. In a way he should be grateful. Every time Starscream proved to be right Megatron would strive to get better, just to spite the other transformer, and more often than not his latest plans worked, even though the Autobot would finally stop him, things were getting harder for them to stop. One day he might even wind up taking a few of them out permanently. Maybe even Optimus Prime himself.

All thanks to Starscream. But he wasn't about to tell _him_ that!

Megatron stopped in his tracks and scanned the hallway. He picked up a faint energy signature coming from a room far to his right. He turned and took that hall. A door loomed at the end, closed and securely locked. That wasn't about to stop him. He raised his arm and fired his fusion cannon at the door.

The door couldn't sustain the blast and burst, sending pieces of melted metal flying. The room beyond the door was dark but Megatron didn't notice. The energy signature was coming from that room.. He charged right in.

**IMPALED!**

A sharp pain lanced up his side as something sharp pierced his gray frame. He let out a yell of agony and fell to the floor with a clang, a long energy blade sticking out of his side. He gritted his teeth and stared at the blade in the dim light. It looked like Grimlock's only longer and older. He could tell that by the markings on the blade.

It hurt more too. He grabbed at the sword, taking the sharp blade in his hands and yanked.

Suddenly the lights came on and he looked up and spotted Silverblade crouched by the door, his optics cold and full of hate, his other hand holding another sword. He'd been lying in wait.

"Starscream's right," Megatron said when he realized this. "You _are_ a coward."

The scientist straightened up and started across the room, his left hand gripping the other sword tightly. The Decepticon Commander noticed his optics lit up with an insane light. "Not a coward," he said, his voice sounding higher in pitch. "A strategist. I knew you'd come after me so I waited for you." he looked at the sword piercing Megatron's side then at his face. "I just wanted to make sure I had an advantage."

Megatron clenched his teeth together and yanked blade out of his side. It fell to the floor with a clatter. Silverblade, his face suddenly taking on a blank expression, waited from him to stand, the Decepticon covering the damage with a hand. "I can still defeat you even with damage," he growled.

The scientist's expression did not change. He just stepped back, holding his sword in front of him. "Let's see about that."

The Decepticon commander, forgetting about his wound, dropped his hand and dashed toward the much older mech. _You're going to regret doing that to me, old man!_

_A/N_

_Not my favorite chapter but at least some things happened. I'm not sure how much longer this fic will be but it won't be much longer. __It might take me awhile to update this again since I want the fight to come out very good. _


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26 consequences

Soundwave, Thundercracker and Skywarp made quick work of the security drones surrounding them. Since the robots had only been programed with one command "defend the building from intruders" it was easy to take them out because they had no form of self preservation and didn't try to get away when they started losing. They all just stood there and took it like the processorless beings they were.

Skywarp was having a high old time taking them out. His constant disappearing and reappearing confused the robots and most wound up shooting one another instead of the elusive seeker. Before too long all the drones were nothing but scrap piles on the floor.

"That did it," Thundercracker said, when the final one was taken out. "Now let's find Megatron and Starscream."

"and Silv!" Skywarp couldn't help adding.

The blue seeker shook his head. _Femme's on the processor that's all he ever has... _"Right."

00000000000

Starscream and the bounty hunter Sam weren't having as easy a time taking care of _their_ batch of security drones. Starscream was stuck using only one gun because his other one was still damaged from when Sam had frozen it back on the _Nemesis_. Sam had long since run out of missiles and was shooting at the robots with her charge beam or rolling into a tiny ball and dropping bombs at their feet. It wasn't easy going.

Silv wasn't much use. She had no weapon and knew very little about fighting. The best she could do was kick at the drones and land a few punches that did little more than knock them back a few paces. She ground her teeth in frustration. Maybe learning self defense wasn't such a bad idea after all.

Starscream slammed his fist into the face of a drone that got too close. The head let out a shower of sparks then exploded. The seeker took a step back to avoid the flying debrees as the body crumbled to the floor in a smoking heap. Before he could feel proud of his accomplishment another drone stepped in to take it's place with many more to back it up.

"Slag," he cursed. Was there no end to these things?!

"Look out!" a voice shouted.

Starscream turned around just in time to see a drone that had sneaked up behind him explode. He put up his arm to protect his face then turned his head and spotted Sam standing with her arm raised, the cannon attached to it blinking as it once again charged itself. He stared at her in surprise. She'd saved him!

The bounty hunter took in his expression without much of a reaction. "Don't look so surprised," she said, turning from him to fire the charge shot at another drone. "These things are more of a problem then you'll ever be. Besides." she jumped in the air and fired her ice beam at two more. "You're worth more alive than dead."

0000000000000

Silverblade jerked his head back just in time to avoid being hit by Megatron's flying fist. The Decepticon tried to hit him with another punch but he jumped back, putting space between him and the Commander. He noticed the frustrated look on the younger mechs face. It seemed he hadn't expected the older transformer to have such good reflexes. Siverblade might not fight anymore in wars but that didn't mean he forgot how to. "You'll have to do better than that," the scientist taunted.

Megatron raised his arm and aimed his cannon at Starscream's creator. Silverblade's sword was faster and it neatly cut the weapon off his arm. Megatron stared at the spot where the gun had been just a moment ago then dropped his arm and flew at the scientist, trying to tackle him.

The older mech was faster than he looked. He neatly side stepped the attack and smashed his sword handle into Megatron's head as he flew by. "Pitiful," he said as if he was talking to one of his children or a clumsy apprentice. "With skills like that no wonder Optimus Prime always defeats you."

"Don't mention that name," the Decepticon growled, ignoring the pain in his head as he got up. This old mecha was getting on his last nerve and he wasn't going to lose to him that easily. He came after the scientist again, his fist barely missing the older mecha this time.

Silverblade completely unfazed, continued to taunt him. "Where's the ruthless fighting style I've heard about?" he asked. "Did you lose it having to deal with disloyal transformers all the time?" He raised his hand and grabbed the Decepticon's fist when he tried to swing at him again. "I thought so. No wonder Starscream ran away to join you. You're nothing but a joke."

Megatron ground his teeth. "I'll show you joke," he growled.

For once the scientist wasn't expecting the blow. Megatron's other fist slammed into his stomach plating. He gasped and fell back, letting Megatron's fist go so he could wrap his arm around the area. "Not... bad..," he managed through great intakes of the stale air.

The Decepticon smirked. "And there's more where that came from, you out of date rust bucket."

0000000000

The drones just kept on coming, slowly but surely, forcing Starscream, his sister, and the bounty hunter to pack themselves closer together. Before long the drones had them surrounded and they had barely any room to move, much less fight back. Starscream's nullgun's power was low as well as the bounty hunters. Silv, who didn't have a weapon anyway was running low on energy and couldn't move because her back was against Starscream's.

"Slag," the Decepticon second in command cursed, his arm still aimed at the stubborn army of drones. "There's no end to them."

"What are we going to do?" Silv ask looking over her shoulder at him, her expression for once holding more than a serious expression. She actually looked scared, her purple optics widened and her body shaking slightly. "They have us surrounded."

"We can't give up," the bounty hunter told them.

"Well what do you suggest?" Starscream asked, his voice loaded with sarcasm. "We sing to them?"

"No," she said hotly. "Though with your voice, singing would probably kill them."

He glared down at her, tempted to step on her for that comment. "You just shut your mouth, flesh creature," he growled. "What do you know anyway?"

"I know that if you had the space you'd turn tail and run just like you always do," she shot back. "You big coward!"

He ground his teeth together angrily. Who was she to say such things? She didn't know him."I'll show you who's a coward!" he shouted, his voice growing higher like it always did when he lost him temper.

She gave him a look of mild interest. "Oh really-" she began but cut herself off when the seeker barrolled himself into the drones like he'd lost his mind.

_I'm no coward! _he thought, attacking drones left and right with punches and kicks. _I'm not like I was when Silverblade had his hold over me. I'll show her! I refuse to be beaten by my own creators pack of mindless scrap metal!_

Silv watched him with a look of awe. She'd never seen him fight before. "Wow..," she said under her breath.

Starscream seemed to be doing a pretty good job at taking the drones out by himself. He'd actually slagged quite a few in a very short time. But, just as his confidence was starting to rise, he tripped over the body of one of the ones the bounty hunter had slagged and went down. Before he could get up the other drones were on him, pinning him to the floor. He struggled against them, his optics full of rage. _No! I will not be defeated by drones!_

He forced himself up, ignoring the weight of the robots trying to hold him down and raised his gun arm. The power was low but he fired anyway. The blast hit the ones in front of him and they flew backward, hitting the ones behind them and knocking them down. While the drones that hadn't been damaged struggled to their feet, he jabbed his elbow into the one on his back, hard. The force knocked it off him and he turned on the ones behind him. "You will not defeat me!" he screamed at them in a berserk rage. He grabbed two of them and used them as clubs, knocking the rest of the drones back.

Before long the simple minded robots lay in a giant slag pile all around him. He stood, stooped over, panting heavily but smirking in triumph. _Hah! That'll teach them to try to overpower the great Starscream!_

"Wow," a voice said behind him. "I never knew you had it in you, Screamer."

The Air Commander, recognizing the voice, turned around. A few feet down the hall behind him stood Soundwave, Thundercracker, and Skywarp. Soundwave stared at him impassively, while Thundercracker gawked at him with his mouth hanging open, his face a picture of disbelief at what he'd just witnessed. Skywarp was grinning like a mad Insecticon, and clapping his hands somewhat sarcasticly. "Bravo!"

Starscream stared at them. "W-wha- How long have you been standing there?" he demanded.

"Long enough to see you create enough spare parts to last us the rest of existance," Skywarp replied still grinning. "Now if only you could fight like that _all_ the time."

The red, white, and blue seeker ignored the cutting remark and demanded. "Why didn't you help me?"

"Why should we have?" Skywarp asked. "When you were doing so well on your own?"

Thundercracker, seeing the look on the air commanders face spoke up before an arguement broke out. "Where is Megatron?" he asked, looking around.

"He ran ahead," the bounty hunter replied, stepping forward. "He's going to kill that lying piece of-"

"Whoa!" Skywarp exclaimed, staring down at her in shock. "You're still alive!"

She ignored him. "Maybe we'd better go after him."

"Why do you ever care about him?" Thundercracker asked her.

"I don't care about your leader," she told him, hotly. "I just don't want him killing that lying rust bucket before I can teach him a lesson for cheating me out of my pay."

Skywarp looked at Starscream. "So you're creator's s skin flint," he said. "Just like another transformer I know."

The Air Commander ignored him. "We won't get anything done standing around here talking," he said, noticing something. "It seems we're have company."

Thundercracker had also noticed the army of drones coming toward them. He looked annoyed. "Let's take care of them quickly," he said. "I'm getting sick of seeing their faces."

Starscream wasn't about to fight anymore drones. He had something else he needed to take care of. "You take care of them," he said, turning and running down the hall. "I don't have the time."

00000000

Megatron's fist contacted Silverblade's face. The older mech grunted in pain and took a few steps back. He put his hand over the spot and saw mech fluid on it when he pulled it back. He lifted his head to glare at the Decepticon. "You're going to regret that," he growled.

The Deception commander doubted that. Once he'd gained control of the situation Silverblade wasn't as formidable as he first seemed. In fact he was downright whimpy, just as he'd suspected. "How am I going to regret that, you old scrap pile?" he asked, coming at him again. "You're in no condition to do anything about it."

The scientist raised his arm to protect his face against another punch. Megatron's fist his the tarnished silver metal. He let out a yell of pain and stepped back, holding his hand. The older mech smirked, dropping his arm. "I would advise against doing that again," he said. "My armor's a lot thicker than yours."

The gray transformer glared at him. Silverblade walked forward, his sword hanging at his side. "I may be an old scrap pile," he said, his optics hardening. "But I'm not a whimp!" He charged toward him. "Let me show you what I can do!"

Megatron watched him come and stepped back just in time to avoid being struck by the older mechs energon blade. He moved sideways and out of reach of the infinately sharp blade. Silverblade turned just as the Decepticon swung. He took another blow to the face, the only part on his body besides his stomach area, not covered in armor and shot backward, slamming into the wall. The metal wall bent on impact, creating a dent the size of his body. The scientist grunted and forced himself to get back up. Megatron came at him again, ready to land another blow to his face.

He jerked his head sideways and the Decepticon's fist smashed into the wall, denting it further. The gray mecha cursed as pain shot up his arm. Silverblade ducked and tripped him. He fell to the floor with a clang.

The scientist was up first and, as Megatron tried to get up, the older mecha's foot slammed into his back, pinning him to the floor. Megatron growled in anger and tried to force himself up again. The blade of the scientists sword pierced the floor just inches from his head. Silverblade knelt down and got in his face. "It looks like I win," he said.

The Decepticon wasn't about to conceed defeat. Not to Starscream's creator. He didn't comment but his hateful gaze said enough. The scientist returned it with a hateful gaze of his own. "Don't look at me like that, you pathetic excuse of a machine," he snapped.

"I'll look at you anyway I want," Megatron shot back, not about to be intimadated. That tone might work on whimps like Starscream but it wasn't going to work on him.

"You won't be looking at anyone anyway in a minute," the scientist told him, his voice just as angry. He straightened up so he could stare down at him. "Now that I have you I'm not going to let you get away. You're going to regret doing this to me, to my whole existance. I lost everything I care about once thanks to you. I'm not going to let that happen again."

Megatron put his hands on the floor and tried to get up, Silverblade added pressure and he flopped back down. "_I'm_ not the one responsible," he shot back. "_You're_ the one who caused this to happen to yourself. "

"I just wanted what was best for them," the scientist informed him. "An existance without the taint of war and violence. But did that happen? No! All thanks to you and you're empty promises! You poisoned their minds with lies about a better existance without law, without consequences! You thought what the Autobots were doing was _wrong_! You acted as if you could do better. But it was all a lie. You don't intend to do any such thing. You intend to destroy anyone who doesn't agree with you. You intend to dictate what they can and can't do."

"Much like you tried to do to your own creations," Megatron pointed out

Silverblade was feeling self rightious. He wasn't about to admit such a thing. "My intentions were pure!" he insisted. "I didn't want them corrupted by the likes of you! Violence is not needed to live _any_ existance!"

"You're so blind," the Decepticon said, sounding like he pitied the uninformed mecha. "You act as if peaceful ways are right. But they're not! Being peaceful makes you weak! Makes you easier to conquire! War is needed to make one strong. War is needed for peace to happen!"

"Don't tell me about war like I'm ignorant in that area! I've seen enough of it already," the scientist shot back. "The peace of our deliverance should have lasted, _would_ have lasted if _you _hadn't come along and started another with your lies."

Megatron noticed that the pressure on his back was becoming lighter. He kept talking. "I didn't lie," he told him. "The Autobots were the liars. They thought their ways were _right_! They're not. None of the things they say are true. Optimus Prime might think that he's fighting for the good of all creatures but he's nothing but a puppet and, just like you, he's blinded to the truth."

Silverblade gave him a look of utter disgust. "He wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for you," he growled. "but I don't care about him_. He's_ not the one responsible for Starscream leaving. _You_ are. You and your empty promises."

"Starscream does not care about my "empty promises", Silverblade," Megatron said, sensing the pressure lightening with every word. It seemed the scientist could only focus on one thing at a time. "From the beginning he joined me because he said he wanted to prove something to somebody. He never said who it was but I know now that it was you. " he laughed scornfully. "He just wanted to prove to you, his creator, that he could become something. That he was destined to become more than just a scientist who locks himself away from the world because he can't stand it. Unlike you, he wasn't going to hide from change." his laughter grew mocking. "Maybe he's not as much of a coward as I thought."

Silverblade didn't want to hear anymore. "Enough!" he ordered, before the Decepticon could speak again. "I don't want to hear anymore of your lies. The time for talking is over."

"You're right," Megatron agreed. "The time for talking _is _over." Suddenly he shot up off the floor. Silverblade, who still had his foot on the gray mecha's back, lost his balance and fell back onto the floor. When he fell his grip on his sword loosened and, before he could get up, he looked up to see it pointed at his throat. He looked up the blade's length. Megatron held the blade. "I won't hear anymore of the nonsense. It's about time I teach you a lesson of my own."

The scientist started to speak. "I-"

"Silence!" Megatron's commanding voice shut him up. "Just shut your mouth. Idon't want to hear it anymore! I've had enough of this."

Silverblade said nothing.

The Decepticon continued. "You act as if this whole ordeal is to be blamed on everyone but yourself," he said. "You think you didn't play any part in it. But you're wrong and I know that you know that." he saw the tarnished mecha start to comment but cut in before he could. "You can keep lying to yourself, keep denying it but you know it's true. Your little daughter was very helpful in that part. Though I still don't know the whole story I do know that from what she said that you were a control freak. You treated your own creations like only wouldn't you let them live their own lives but you told them that they wouldn't become anything."

No response.

"You want to know something?" he asked. "Starscream has compared me to yourself sometimes. I never knew what he meant by that but I'm getting a clear picture."

Now Silverblade did speak. "You are nothing like me."

"If that is true why would he say it?" the Decepticon asked. Silverblade looked away. "Maybe because it is true. Maybe I am like you in some areas. maybe I'm not and he just says that because he has a low respect for you and it's his way of insulting me. But I don't care. Whether he's right or wrong it doesn't matter. He can say what he wnants about me because I don't care about his oppinion."

The scientist was only half listening. He'd noticed his other sword lying on the floor not too far away. If he could just get to it.

"I do know one thing," Megatron went on as if he was totally unaware of the fact that Silverblade wasn't paying attention. "Whether I'm like you or not it won't matter. You won't be around much longer to find out."

"Don't be so sure," the scientist said. "I don't die so easily."

"Why don't we test that out?" Megatron moved the sword from his throat to his chest plating, right where his spark would be. "How about I rip out your spark and crush it with my bear hands?"

"Go ahead and try," he challenged. "But it won't be as easy as you think."

Megatron looked as if he was going to ask him about that but the wound in the Decepticon's side sparked painfully and he finched. The scientist, seeing his chance, reached up and grabbed the sharp blade in his hand. Ignoring the pain as the blade cut into it, he yanked it side ways and overbalanced the other transformer.

As Megatron tried to regain his footing Silverblade dived for the other sword. He grabbed it off the floor, letting the other sword go and darted to his feet just as Megatron recovered and charged at him.

Metal clashed against metal as the blades met. Silverblade had gone into a fighting stance and didn't even fall back when the other transformer's weight hit him. They glared at each other through the blades, their faces almost touching.

"Go ahead and try," he said, his optics hardening. "But you won't accomplish it. I still have the advantage!"

_AlN_

_I don't know what I'm talking about either. All I know is that I intended to make this chapter longer than the other ones but I don't think I succeded. More fighting in the next chapter and less talking. _


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

The other three Decepticons had not followed Starscream when he'd fled. He'd half expected them to but, when they didn't, he was more than a little relieved. He hadn't wanted them to come after him. He didn't need their interference. Them and that bounty hunter could take care of the rest of the drones. As for Silv, she'd be fine. He didn't have time to worry about her. He had other things to worry about.

_You'll never become anything........._

_Mistake number two...._

The words of Silverblade and Megatron echoed through his mind painfully as he ran.

_Starscream is a child....._

_You're still not doing that right!_

He stumbled and put out his hand, resting it against the wall to steady himself. He shook his head, trying to dislodge the words. The last thing he needed at the moment was for the two authoritive transformers in his life's words to haunt him. Now wasn't the time. He had to find them both.

_I can't let them kill each other. _The thought crossed his mind surprising him. He couldn't let them kill each other? Why not? Both of them were the causes of all the misery in his life. The answer wasn't long in coming once he gave it some careful thought.

Much as he hated his creator he didn't want him to die just yet. He still had something to prove. As for Megatron.... he wanted to have the honors of disposing of him himself.

He stopped running and looked around himself. The hallway had slip into four different directions. He wasn't sure which way to go. He stood still and allowed his scanners to search the halls for energy signatures. He picked up something coming from the hallway to his far right.

_That way!_

He turned and dashed down the corridor.

------------------------------

Back in the other hallway the other Decepticons, the bounty hunter, and Silv were taking care of another wave of drones. Silv was fighting this time because Thundercracker had shoved a blaster into her hand and told her to make herself useful if she wanted to live.

As they took out the drones Skywarp complained aloud about Starscream desertion. "It's just like Starscream to run away when he knows he's out numbered," he grumbled. He seemed to have forgotten that not long ago the Air Commander had taken out a large quantity of drones by himself. "Why couldn't he have stayed and helped us with these?"

Silv spoke in that serious tone she always used. "Because he has something important to take care of," she replied.

"Oh really?" the black and gray seeker asked looking at her. "and what would that be?"

She shook her head. "You would not be able to understand if I told you," she said flatly.

----------------------------

Silverblade bent his weight toward Megatron, forcing the Decepticon to take a few steps back. "Why don't you stop holding back and show me your true skills," he challenged. "Because, unless you do, you're not going to get out of this lab alive. Not you or that brat I called a son!"

Megatron stiffened and leaned his weight forward. "You talk too much," he said.

Silverblade growled and kicked at him. Megatron finally stopped shoving his weight against the two interlocked blades and jumped back, avoiding the kick. Silverblade came at him again, his sword raised above his head. The Decepticon parried the strike and shoved the scientist away with his other hand, ignoring the stab of pain his damaged side shot through him. The older mech fell back a few steps but didn't lose his balance. He stepped sideways with Megatron turning his own body to keep him constantly in sight.

He charged again. Megatron got ready to meet the blow with his own sword but the scientist changed pace at the last second and veered off to his right. The Decepticon turned instantly and tried to meet the blow. His sword met the other one at the last possible second.

Silverblade growled like a mad man and stepped back, insanity welling up in his cold red optics. Megatron, seeing the change, tensed. Insane enemies were unpredictale. He would have to be ready for any kind of unfair play.

The scientist came at him again. Megatron side stepped the thrust and brought his blade down.

Silverblade screamed as the energy blade pierced his shoulder and swung his own blade. The sword's point speared Megatron in the leg. He gasped and shoved Silverblade away. Both transformers took a few steps away from each other, their damaged parts sparking angrily.

Silverblade was panting. "Not.. bad," he managed, re-gripping the handle. "But it won't be good enough!" he rushed forward again.

Megatron didn't even lift his sword. He put out his hand and grabbed the scientist's sword hand, holding the hand upward and the blade away from his face. He brought his face close to the other transformers. "I would advice using a different strategy," he said before kicking him away.

Silverblade shot across the room and slammed into another wall. He got up much faster than before and shot into the air when Megatron tried to run him through. He flew over his head and landed behind him. The Decepticon heard him land and turned, meeting the other blade before any damage could be done.

The older mecha stepped away again. Megatron charged forward. Silverblade let him come. He stood with his sword down and waited until the last second to raise it. The Decepticon yelled in agony when the blade pierced his frame.

----------------------------------

Starscream heard the scream and stopped dead in his tracks. _Megatron. _He'd know that yelled anywhere.

He started running again. Something had happened.

------------------------

Silverblade's expression changed to triumph. He smirked down at Megatron whose chest was pierced by the energy blade and shooting off angry blue sparks. "You ran right into that," he said, sounding somewhat disappointed. "I thought you knew better than to come at your enemy when his weapon was down. It's the oldest trick in the book and you fell for it."

The Decepticon, his mouth hanging open, looked down at the sword sticking out of his chest then back up at the scientist. He was smiling. The older transformer frowned.

"And you just had to gloat instead of taking me out right away," he said.

Suddenly pain shot through the scientist and he gasped. Megatron kept on smiling as he said. "You left yourself wide open."

Silverblade let go of his own blade and stepped back. Megatron's sword slipped out of his chest with a sharp scraping sound. He looked down at the damage. Sparks flew from the hole and blue mech fluid leaked over his tarnished silver frame. He tried to touch it but the exposed wires shocked his hand when he did so. He looked back at Megatron. The Decepticon tore his sword out of his chest and threw it against the wall. It hit the floor with a metallic clatter. He covered the damage with his hand and looked back at the older transformer. "You lose."

The scientist glared at him hatefully, ignoring the pain. "I..," he began then winced when pain shot through his frame. "This doesn't end here." he ground out.

Megatron, ignoring the damage, crossed the room and picked his fusion cannon up off the floor. He attached it to his arm then leaned against the control panel behind him. "I'm afraid it does," he said. Painfully he raised his arm and aimed the weapon at the older transformer. "You see. I still have a weapon."

Silverblade stumbled and fell back against the wall. He met the other transformers red opticed stare without flinching, even as the fusion cannon slowly powered up. "I'm not finished yet!"

Then... he ran!

Before Megatron knew what was happening the scientist shoved himself away from the wall and ran toward him. The Decepticon fired but the older transformer dodged the blast and punched him in the face. The blow sent his head backward, slamming it hard into the consoles large computer screen. The screen shattered on impact and showered him in shards of glass. Before he could recover Silverblade hit him again then turned and dashed out of the room.

------------------------

Starscream had almost reached the room where he'd picked up the signals when he saw his creator, damaged and leaking mech fluid, charge out of the room and dash down the hall. He raised his arm and shot at the older transformer but the shot went wide and missed him. The scientist didn't even look back. Starscream was abouit to chase after him but he heard a noise in the control room and headed toward that instead. He stopped running when he reached the door and looked inside.

Megatron, damaged in three areas, was pushing himself off the broken control panel. He lifted his head and spotted the seeker staring at him. His Second in Command looked confused. "What-" he began to ask but the other Decepticon cut him off with a sharp order. "Get him!"

Starscream didn't need to be told twice. He stepped out of the room and dashed down the hall after Silverblade.

Megatron stood there a moment, leaned over and panting. When he felt a little better he straightened up and followed the Air Commander.

--------------------------------------------

The older transformer didn't run very far. With the damage he had he couldn't put much distance between himself and his enemies. Plus the mech fluid he was bleeding was leaving a trail even a sparkling could follow. He stumbled into another room and leaned against the closed door, panting heavily.

_I won't let them do this to me! They won't get away with it! I'll make sure of that. _

Suddenly he heard running footsteps in the hall. He tensed, listening. Only one pair of feet and it wasn't Megatron's. These were lighter, as if they belonged to a machine that weighed less than the Decepticon leader.

_Starscream!_

---------------------------

Starscream stopped running when he suddenly sensed a presence close by, He didn't even notice the blue mess on the floor. He stood still, letting his scanners search the area. He picked up his creator's energy signature and just then noticed the mess. His optics followed the drips and spotted the door. _He's in there... _he thought, taking a step forward.

Suddenly the door blasted open and a heavy weight slammed into him, knocking him off his feet and against the far wall. He yelped in pain and tried to push the weight off of him. He didn't need to bother. Just then a hand reached down and closed around his neck and he was pulled cruelly to his feet.

Dark red optics burned into his own betraying a deep hatred. He grabbed the hand holding onto his thraot and tried to losen the finger's steely grip. He hated when people did that to him. "You!" the voice of his creator hissed in his face. "This is all your fault!"

Starscream was getting sick of hearing that accusation. Silverblade used it to justify every one of his actions. He refused to blame himself so he blamed everyone else. "This is not my fault," he growled, yanking hard on the hand around his throat. "So stop blaming other people for your mistakes. I'm getting sick of hearing it. That might have worked if I was younger but it's not going to work this time."

"I never should have created you.." the scientist screamed in his face. "I never should have bothered trying that out!"

"Trying what out?"

Silverblade shoved him against the wall and lifted him off the floor. "Such a waste of time!" he ranted, ignoring the question. "Such a pathetic waste of time!" His tightened his grip on the seekers neck, creating indentations in the metal. "I should never have tried experimenting on the spark!"

Starscream stared at him in confusion, barely aware of the damage his creator was doing to his neck. "Experimenting on the spark?" _What did you do to me?!_

_-----------------------------------_

Only a few drones were left. Thundercracker and the others hadn't have a very easy time taking them out and were relieved when the final drones fell to the floor in smoking heaps. "That's the last of it," the blue and gray seeker said, dropping his arms. "Now we can-"

Skywarp fell against him, nearly knocking him to the floor. He regained his balance and grabbed his friend's shoulder, turning him around. "What are you-" that's when he noticed the damage. The other

seeker's whole right side was a sparking mess. "Skywarp!" he exclaimed.

"Sorry," Skywarp said, grinning at him stupidly. "I wasn't fast enough this time," he said, sounding like he truely was sorry. "I'm too low on energy." and he fell to the floor.

Silv stepped forward quickly before the other seeker could react. She knelt down and examined the damage. "It doesn't look too serious," she said, looking up at Thundercracker. "I can take care of this. It might take awhile though. Why don't the rest of you go on ahead and we'll catch up when I'm done?"

"Okay," Thundercracker said, nodding. He looked at the others. "Let's go."

When they were gone Skywarp looked at the femme. "I guess this means we can spend some time together," he said, smiling lopsidedly.

"Don't talk," she said, shortly. "It will only make you lose more energy."

He looked away, feeling blown off. "Cold."

--------------------------------------------

Silverblade threw him to the floor. "That is something you'll just have to find out for yourself," he said. "That is if you live long enough, which I don't intend to let happen. You've been online long enough. I will tell you this though. It was a mistake and you were nothing but the product of a mistake. I just wish it hadn't taken me this long to realize that."

Starscream pushed himself off the floor and turned around so he could look up at his creator. What was he talking about? Did this have something to do with what had happened before? When he'd put his hand in the air commander's spark and hadn't harmed him at all? "You're lying."

"I am am I?" his creator demanded. "How would you know that?'

"Because if you weren't you wouldn't have treated me the way you did before I left," he pointed out. His creator didn't answer and he smirked, saying knowingly. "Now would you?"

Silverblade leaned against the wall, suddenly feeling low on energy. It was easy to see why. His damage was still leaking mech fluid all over the floor. "Maybe you're right," he admitted. "But it doesn't matter now, now does it? It was a mistake. A mistake I must deal with the only way I know how." he sighed. "Shockwave warned me about this. I should have listened."

"Maybe you should have," Starsceram agreed, slowly getting to his feet. "But you didn't."

Silverblade pulled out a blaster and pointed it at the seeker. "Not another move," he growled. "I might be low on energy but that doesn't mean I'm helpless. I can still destroy you and all your comrades, including your precious commander."

"Go ahead," Starscream said, folding his arms. "I don't care what happens to Megatron. You can blow his head off for all I care but I doubt you have the guts or the skill. If you did he would be dead by now and you wouldn't be here running away like a coward and bleeding your spark away."

"Shut up!"

"No," Starscream said, raising his arm. "Not this time. This time _I'm_ the one in charge. This time _I'm _making the rules."

Silverblade locked eyes with him. "Not if I can help it!" and he flung himself at him in a flying tackle.

The scientists head slammed into Starscream's stomach plating and knocked him off his feet as the force slammed into his frame. He flew backward, through the open doorway of the room his creator had come out of and slammed into the floor, banging his head. Before he could recover Silverblade had gotten up and slammed his fist into the seeker's face. Starscream took the blow hard, his head thumping against the metal floor. He lay there stunned for a moment but recovered before his creator could hit him again. When that fist came toward his head his hand shot up and grabbed it.

Silverblade froze, a look of surprise on his face. Starscream glared at him, pushing the fist away and sitting up, his face only inches away from the other robots. "I've dealt with that kind of punishment long enough to know how to avoid it," he growled, shoving his creator away.

The tarnished silver mech let out a pained yelp and fell back. Starscream was on his feet in an instant, standing over him. Silverblade tripped him easily and got up, moving swifly away before the other mecha could recover. Starscream got up quickly and chased after him. "You're not going to get away this time!" he shouted after him.

Silverblade grabbed something off the floor and threw it at the younger mech. Starscream saw it coming and ducked then jumped and slammed into the scientist shoulders before he got away. Silverblade hit the floor, landing on his back, his head banging the wall. He grunted and looked up and saw Starscream standing over him, his null gun aimed at his head.

"Don't move," he ordered.

The tarnished silver mech stared at him a moment then looked away, seeing a look in the seekers eyes he'd never seen before.

Just then Megatron reached the room and saw Starscream standing over his creator with his guns aimed at his head. "Kill him!" he ordered, when he realized the silver mech wasn't going anywhere.

"Yes, kill me," Silverblade ordered, looking back at him.

Starscream stood there like a statue, indecision on his face. He should kill his creator then he wouldn't have to deal with him anymore but something held him back, the realization that as much as he hated him he couldn't kill him. He still had something he needed to prove to him and killing him just then would never help him accomplish it.

"What are you waiting for?" Megatron demanded from the doorway where he was leaning, his arm covering his own damage. "Kill him."

Starscream's gun powered down and he dropped his arm. "No," he said.

Megatron gaped at him, in shock. "No?!"

Starscream looked over his shoulder. "No."

Silverblade let that sink in for a moment then relaxed slightly. "I knew it," he said, smirking. "You don't have the guts."

"That's not it," Starscream said correctively. "You're just not _worth_ it." he turned away from him. "You're not worth it at all."

Silverblade spoke again, his voice low and menacing. "I'm not worth it?" he asked. "Well if you're not going to do it..." Starscream heard the sounding of buttons being pressed and froze. "If you're not going to kill me then-"

Starscream turned around just as a siren began blaring and the whole building began to shake. "I'll do it _for_ you!"

"What's that?" Megatron asked, grabbing the doorframe to steady himself.

Silverblade met Starscream's gaze, his optics lit up madly. "I just activated a bomb!" he cackled. "We'll all go out together! HAHAHHA!"

Starscream stared at him for a second longer then got moving. He ran over to Megatron and quickly draped his arm over his shoulder, much as his mind screamed at him to just leave him there. He dashed down the hall, helping his superior along.

"You won't get out of here alive!" Silverblade's insane cackling echoed after them. "You won't make it at all!"

_A/N_

_I'm no good with fighting scenes._

_I'm getting really close to the end. I think there will be only one more chapter after this one. I just hope I haven't disappointed anyone with some of the content of this chapter. _


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Starscream could still hear Silverblade's laughter as he and Megatron dashed down the hall. He cursed himself for being so stupid. Of _course_ his creator wouldn't let Starscream decide his fate for him. That wasn't how he functioned. _I have a feeling he planned this whole thing, just in case he couldn't kill me... _But he didn't have time to worry about such a thing. He had to get out of there. But before he could do that he had to contact the others... just in case they didn't know what the noise meant.

"You should have just killed him like I told you to," he heard Megatron mutter.

The seeker didn't comment. How was he ever going to explain the reason to the other mecha? Megatron would never understand. He never understood anything about him. "Let's just get out of here," he said, changing the subject. Now wasn't the time to be getting a lecture anyway.

Besides, there was nothing he could do about it now.

"Run! Run! Run as fast as you can but you'll never make it out! Never! Hahahha!"

Back in the room Silverblade's laughter continued for a little longer then stopped completely as his optics dimmed then went out. His head fell against the floor as everything went black.

* * *

Silv had finished up with Skywarp's repairs and the two robots were racing down the hall, trying to catch up with the others, when the alarm went off and the building started shaking. "What's that?" Skywarp asked, trying to keep his balance.

For once Silv could give no answers. This was something new, and unexpected. "I don't know," she said honestly, though a horrible feeling began to wash over her. This couldn't be anything good.

Just then Thundercracker contacted them and that bad feeling turned to dread. "Silv! Skywarp! Come in!" they heard his voice over their comlinks. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes," the femme said, putting her hand to the side of her head. "What is it?"

"Starscream just contacted me," he said. "It seems that crazy creator of his activated a time bomb that's set to go off in two minutes."

Silv's optics widened. _A bomb? _Her creator had planted a bomb?

"We have to get out of here," he said before she could reply.

"Yes," she agreed. "But there's no way me and Skywarp can out of of here from where we are." she noticed the seeker was grinning. "What?"

"Don't worry about it," Thundercracker told her. "If Skywarp's still with you it won't be hard at all."

"What do you-" before she could finished the sentence Skywarp had grabbed her around the waist and vanished in a flash of purple. A second later both robots were outside. She stared at him, surprised at what he'd done "How did you do that?"

He was still grinning. "That's a secret."

"But," she said, turning back to the lab. "We might have gotten out easily but what about the others?" she looked back at him, a request in her purple optics.

He knew what she wanted and shook his head. "Uh uh," he said, putting up his hands. "I can't do that."

"Why not?" she demanded.

"I just can't," he said. "I don't have enough power."

She didn't know what to say. Instead she turned her attention away from him and focused it once again on the lab. _Then what are we going to do?_

* * *

"Skywarp and Silv have made it out safely," Thundercracker said, through the comlink. "But I don't know how we're going to get out of here." he looked around himself. "We're surrounded by solid walls."

"Well think of _something_," Starscream's impatient voice shot back at him. "If you want to live that is."

_Of course_ he wanted to live. He had no intention of dying in a psychopaths home because of what Starscream had been through. It was times like this that he wondered why Megatron even bothered letting the Air Commander live. Was it even worth it? "Well what do you want me to do?" he snapped.

"Anything, I don't care," Starscream shot back.

Thundercracker looked at Soundwave but the Communications Officer didn't have any answers either

Sam was getting impatient. They didn't stand around trying to figure out how to escape and Starscream wasn't much of a help either. Either they did it now or they died. "I have an idea," she said suddenly.

The blue and gray seeker looked down at her. "What?"

"I'm going to use something to get us out of here now," she said.

"What?" he asked, sounding like he didn't believe her.

She raised her arm, the cannon charging up. "This!"

Suddenly he was blinded by a bright flash of light that exploded loudly against the wall. He put up an arm as debrees rained down on him and when he lowered it he saw a huge hole had been blasted in the wall and the moons landscape could be seen through it. He stared down at the bounty hunter, his mouth hanging open.

"Don;t just stand there," she said, her voice cutting. "Move!"

* * *

Further down the hall Starscream and Megatron heard the explosion. "What was that?" Megatron demanded.

Starscream listened for a moment, his senses on alert. The building was still in one piece for now so it couldn't have been his creator's bombs. "I think," he said, starting to move again. "It's an escape."

Megatron's face filled with relief but he didn't say anything. He was just glad they were going to get out of there. If Starscream knew his feelings he would have agreed. He wanted the exact same thing for more reasons than one.

Pireces of the ceiling began to come lose as he ran. Shards of metal broke off and rained around him. He did his best to avoid the deadly rain but he couldn't avoid everything. Some of the shards pirces his frame but he didn't cry out. Not this time. He just hoped he'd get out of ere alive and not in pieces.

He turned a corner and spotted the hole in the wall the others had gone through. That same instant a female computer voice began counting down the seconds to detonation. Grinding his teeth he started toward the hole in the wall, trying his best to ignore the counting voice and Megatron's weight which slowed him down. He lunged toward the hole, flying through it just as the voice reached one then said flatly. "Goodbye."

He and Megatron hit the moon's rocky surface as a wave of heat washed over them and the sound of the explosion muted out any other sound. A few seconds later, when he discovered he and Megatron were still functional, he lifted his head and saw the others, with his sister in the lead running toward them. He sighed and went limp as relief washed over him. He'd cheated again. He would live to fight another day.....

* * *

_**A few hours later.**_

Starscream stood on the crest of a hill, staring over the empty plain at the ruins of what used to be his creator's laboritory and his former home. Behind him Silv was sitting on the ground beside Megatron, repairing the damage he'd sustained from his fight with Silverblade. She'd already fixed her brothers damage which proved to be minimal aside from the broken null gun. _Well it's all gone now. _he thought. _I guess that's it. _

"Whatcha thinking about, Screamer?" asked a voice at his elbow.

Starscream didn't bother turning his head. He already knew who had spoken. Only one person called him Screamer. "None of your business, Skywarp," he said.

The black seeker wasn't going to give up that easily. "Come on," he persisted "You can tell me."

_No, I can't. Anything I tell you you'll blab to everyone else and then the whole armada will know all about my problems and my past. It's none of their business. It's bad enough I had to tell all of it to Megatron with you within hearing range. At least he ordered you not to open your big mouth about it. _"Don't you have anything better to do than to pester me?" he demanded.

"No," his wingmate replied, his gaze focused on some movement across the plain. "Thundercracker is busy at the moment and neither he or that bounty hunter want my help."

Starscream looked at him. "Thundercracker and the bounty hunter?"

"They're unearthing the hunter's ship," he explained. "If it's still in running order she offered us a lift back to the planet."

Starscream said nothing. He wasn't sure he ever wanted to go inside that ship again. The memories were still too fresh. "She doesn't need to do any such thing," he said. "We can go back there without her help."

"Maybe," Skywarp agreed. "But it was Megatron's idea."

"I'm surprised she agreed, after what he did to her."

"She agreed because he made a deal with her. He won't search her out and kill her in the future if she gave us a lift. Considering what she went through I can't blame her for agreeing, even if she wasn't happy about it." Skywarp smiled. "At least it gives me an excuse to spend more time with Silv."

Starscream turned his head to glare at the black seeker. "You stay away from my sister," he growled. "If you try anything so help me I'll-"

Skywarp grinned. "I never thought I'd hear such a threat coming from you, Screamer," he commented. "I thought you only cared about yourself."

Starscream turned to his wingmate, his optics burning like cold fire. "When it comes to my sister the rules change," he snapped. "It's completely different. Now I'm warning you. Stay away from Silv."

"What will you do if I don't?" Skywarp asked.

The expression on the Air Commander's face was answer enough. The black seeker took a step back then turned and walked away, feeling Starscream's optics burning into his back.

* * *

"I think that's about it," Thundercracker said, lifting the last piece of debree off Sam's ship. He set the twisted slab of metal aside and looked down at the ship. The paint was scratched in few areas but other than that it looked functional enough. For a moment he thought about the day he and Skywarp had discovered the bounty hunter's ship in the desert. It seemed so long ago. "It should still be in working order."

Sam set down the chunk of metal she'd taken off her ship and stared at the hull, her hands resting on her armored hips. "Of course," she said. "It's been though worse than this." she walked forward and rested her hand on the red painted ship, caressing it in a loving manner. "It will get us where we need to go."

Thundercacker looked down at her. He noticed her voice seemed to change when she was around her beloved ship. It made her seem different. More human. For a moment he forgot that was what she was."So where are you going after you take us back to Cybertron?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Wherever," she replied. "I'm a bounty hunter. I go where the work is." she sighed. "Maybe my next client will actually pay me."

Yeah that's right. Silverblade hadn't payed her. She'd spent so much time doing her job and her client had cheated her out of her hard earned cash. No wonder she'd wanted to kill him herself and was so angry when she found out he'd done the job himself. The seeker looked over at the ruins of what was once a lab. What kind of work had been done there? "Maybe you'll get something soon..." he said absently. He though he noticed some movement among the rubble...

Sam stepped away from the ship, clearing her throat to get the big blue jets attention. "We'd better get back to the others now," she said.

* * *

Silv had finished with Megatron's repairs. As she got to her feet she noticed Skywarp walking away from Starscream with a nervous look on his face. _Hmmm..._

The black seeker walked by her without a word. She ignored him, not bothering to ask him about it and headed over to join her brother. "It's over now," she said, standing beside him.

He kept his gaze focused on the ruins in the distance as he said. "Yes it is."

"I guess you can stop now," she said.

"Stop what?" he sounded like he didn't know what she was talking about.

"Trying to prove something," she replied. " I mean, Silverblade is gone. You don't have to prove anything to him anymore."

"It's not that simple," he said.

She didn't understand. "Why not?"

"It doesn't matter if he'd dead," he explained. "It's too late to change anything."

"Why?" she asked. "You could change now. Silverblade is gone. You don't have to prove you're anything anymore."

"It's not that simple," he said again, gestering at the ruin. "Even if he is gone I can't just give up on my goal. It still means something. I am sick of being second in everything. I want to prove to myself _and _him, even if he's gone that I can become something important." he clenched a fist. "That I can be the best at something and..." he glanced briefly back at Megatron. "I don't want to be treated like slag anymore."

Silv looked back at Megatron but said nothing. She didn't exactly understand the relationship between her brother and his commanding officer but she didn't have to. The look he'd given the gray mech was answer enough. "You never liked authority," she commented, stating simple fact. "Even when you lived at home."

"That's not it," he cut in. "The fact is I don't like people who look down on me and tell me I can't become anything and.." he lowered his optics. "I don't like being called stupid. I'm _not_ stupid."

"......Maybe now things will be different," she said, sounding more certain than she felt.

"I doubt it," he said, his voice sarcastic. "Megatron would rather be infected with cosmic rust than give me any kind of respect."

"Maybe you're not giving him enough of a chance," she said quietly. "I don't think he's really as bad as that."

He turned his head as if to challenge that remark but stopped when she stared at him with those serious purple optics of hers. "He's not as bad as you think." she said, sounding insistent.

He laughed scornfully at that remark. What did she know? She didn't have to live with that slag sucker. She didn't even have a fraction and she wasn't told she was incompitent every day. "If only you knew."

She didn't challenge him. She knew better than that. She turned her gaze away and walked back to the others without another word.

Starscream watched her go then looked back toward the ruins. _She is right about one thing. It is over. I'll never be able to throw my accomplishments in his face. _he clenched a fist, feeling more disappointed than angry. _He never let me do what I want, even in death! _He calmed down. _But that doesn't change anything. I'll still become something I will become the leader of the Decepticons no matter the cost! _

"Starscream," Megatron's voice interrupted his thoughts.

The seeker jumped, startled and turned around to face his leader. "M-Megatron!" he exclaimed. "I didn't hear ypu."

The gray mech's gaze wandered to the ruins in the distance for a moment then he looked back at Starscream's face "We are leaving now," he told him. "We are going back to Cybertron and we're not going to discuss this further. Based on everything you and your sister told me about your creator and this place, I believe it is best if we all put this behind us and pretend it never happened. Don't you think it better if you pretend you never had a past at all? That you always were a Decepticon that did what he was told?" Megatron wasn't really asking a question. He was making a command with a question. "All you need to care about is obeying my orders and not trying to prove something to some ghost. He is not important and nothing about him is worth remembering, understood?"

Starscream knew how to answer and he didn't feel like challenging the gray mecha for once. He was too tired. "Yes," he said, though he had no intention of following the order. He would never forget anything that happened. It was just how he was. He _needed _his past.

"Good," Megatron said, nodding with satisfaction. "Then we are leaving. There's nothing here for us."

Starscream began to follow but stopped long enough to give the ruin one last glance. _How could I forget anyway? He died with knowledge about me that I won't ever find out. _He shrugged it off. _It's probably not anything important anyway........_ He turned away from the ruin and followed the others to the bounty hunter's ship that would take them back to the planet.

* * *

As Sam's ship took off a small protocol droid worked meticulously away in the ruins, unearthing something buried under all the rubble. Something of tarnished silver in color. A few seconds later it cleared away enough debree to reveal a badly damaged head and upper chest plate. Satisfied at its find the little droid let out a gleeful squeal and proceeded to dig up the rest of the body. When it was finished this task, it returned to the chest and repaired the damage to the head and chest, wires from its hands coiling around a faintly pulsing spark. The electricity from the wires flashed briefly and the faint light grew stronger as the spark started pulsating rapidly.

The dimmed optics on the damaged face brightened gradually until they reached their full brilliance.

**The End?**

_A/N_

_And the beat goes on.... XD_

_Yes, this is the end of the story. I always enjoy writing my stories and by the time I reach the end I feel disappointed that it's over. I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I liked writing it and thanks for all the reviews I was given as well as the help. I am very grateful for the help. I guess that's about it. _


End file.
